Bromstone: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the vehicle sits in Bromstone, is usually what it takes if caught before your motor runs. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many modern diesels around Westwood, as well as Bromstone, carry on two liquids; your motor gets only the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
There's a filler for every tank. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have both together under one flap. Topping up your diesel side at the pump happens constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Bromstone: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off Rumfields Road before work, or in the car park outside Red Lion on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it takes place in Northwood or the middle of Bromstone, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Be it a Bromstone forecourt or a driveway over in Whitehall, spend a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives if your filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Broadstairs's car park, say — rather than when the warning comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Kent that is.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Leas Green.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- Both under a single flap? So make sure the cap on the diesel filler is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Bromstone?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, just where fuel is taken from.
The attendants at Tesco, Gulf or another forecourt will usually help pushing the car clear if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Bromstone.
Already run? Stop when it's sensible, then switch off. Bromstone sits under 25 miles from the M20; on it, take the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Bromstone is less a job than a run of under 25 miles towards Canterbury, and so say.
Our arrival in Bromstone, and what occurs next
Wherever your car has stopped, be it by Bromstone Primary School, Broadstairs, near Saint Peter-in-Thanet or at home, our van comes to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three answers — what liquid, what quantity, and if it has run — so we ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it washes out by itself. That is why it counts more. Testing comes last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or changed as needed. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we arrive, as long as your engine has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Bromstone and where it is
Bromstone is a suburban area in Kent, situated near the coast and approximately 15.5 miles from Canterbury. Bromstone has a population of around 3097 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Bromstone sits at an elevation of 48 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Bromstone is also close to other nearby places, including Northwood, St Peters, and Upton.
AdBlue drains around Bromstone, and Kent beyond
Over CT postcodes, the teams covering Bromstone — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Upton and St Peters among them. Quote a postcode beginning CT10 2, and the van gets there quickest.
There's no need to shift the car. Wherever it stands — beside St Peters Memorial Hall, on a lay-by en route to Garden of Rest, at home — that is where it is drained. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Our Lady Star of the Sea.
For Bromstone drivers, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Kent, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.