Burcott: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave the engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. In Burcott, catching it before your motor runs usually means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Not one fluid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels near Burcott and Broughton carry, with diesel feeding your engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank comes with a filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Burcott?
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running out leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Marshalls Lea, or outside The Bell on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: a strange motor.
Nothing halts the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes seconds, whether out in Kingsbrook or bang in the heart of Burcott.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Victoria Park or a forecourt around Burcott.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Aylesbury, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere it is in Buckinghamshire — a routine to follow.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and not rushed by Burcott Lane on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have found the filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap never opened off.
Discover at the second or third stage that the bottle went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
Burcott: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. Keep the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it alone starts your fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the staff to help push your car clear of the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Kindell Motors Ltd., the BP or anywhere else. At home in Burcott? So the vehicle stays where it is.
Already started? Stop when it's sensible, then turn off. Burcott lies under 15 miles from the M40; there, use the next exit. A short hop across Burcott is a smaller job than a run towards Milton Keynes, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Burcott, and what takes place next
Anywhere the car has stopped, be it by Orchard View Primary Academy, beside Bierton: St James the Great or on your own drive, the van travels to it. What liquid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: we ask since those replies decide both work and quote. The price comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, once your tank is cleared. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Before we go, our technicians start the car and make sure that it's running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our technicians get there, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Burcott
Burcott is a village in Buckinghamshire, situated on the shores of a lake at an elevation of around 85 metres. Burcott lies within the South East region, approximately 35.7 miles from London and 14.8 miles from Milton Keynes. Burcott has a mix of housing types, with semi-detached homes being particularly prevalent. Burcott is close to nearby places such as Kingsbrook, Bierton, and Broughton Crossing.
AdBlue drains about Burcott, and Buckinghamshire beyond
Burcott is a village, and our teams that cover it also work the places around it, Bierton and Broughton Crossing among them, across the HP postcode area. Fastest of all: give a HP22 5 postcode to the van.
The car stays put. We drain it where it is — a side street near Oak Farm Animal Park, a lay-by on the way to Oakfield Park, a drive. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of All Saints.
For Burcott motorists, the short version
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere across Buckinghamshire.