--- title: Explained: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank Burmarsh canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/burmarsh-kent/ location: Burmarsh county: Kent latitude: 51.064360 longitude: 1.047840 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-03 --- # Burmarsh: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It? Stop reading a minute when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the motor has not run, it's emptied and fully flushed where the vehicle is around Burmarsh. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened. ## Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle Diesel goes to your motor — but plenty of modern diesels seen around Burmarsh and Botolphs Bridge hold another fluid too. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying treats the gas. Each tank has one 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. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between the two. ## How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Burmarsh It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up. Hurry comes from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Kingfisher Avenue, or heading home in the car park outside Prince Of Wales. Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one. Third, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as readily, and once the tip starts, no part halts it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Burmarsh or out in Palmarsh. ## Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Orchard Valley or a forecourt around Burmarsh, check these. They take a couple of seconds. - Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position. - Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one. - A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it. - Cannot find it beside the diesel filler? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says which. - Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Sandling? Check with whoever drove the car last before leaving, not when the light goes on. ## Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up On the day the light comes on — wherever you are across Kent — a simple routine to follow. - Not in a rush on the side of Martin's Way, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly. - Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick. - If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on. - Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty. - Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car. Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to step five. ## Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Burmarsh already? Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Diluting it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the base rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from. If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the JET or the Esso, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the pump. If you're on your own drive in Burmarsh, leave the car where it sits. Already run? Stop once it is safe, then switch off. Come off the M20 — under 3 miles out of Burmarsh — at the next junction. A short hop across Burmarsh is a smaller job than a run towards Canterbury, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went. ## Our arrival around Burmarsh, and what happens next Outside Palmarsh Primary School, near Holy Cross or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Those replies settle the work and the price, and so our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run. No one heads out before you've heard the quote over the phone. Draining the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. That is why it counts more. The filter flushed or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. Your engine is started next and tested to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers go. If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way. ## About Burmarsh, briefly Burmarsh is a small suburban area in Kent, situated on the coast near the Romney Marshes. Burmarsh has a low elevation of around 3 metres, and its proximity to the sea has influenced its development. Burmarsh is located near other small places such as Palmarsh and Pennypot, and is within commuting distance of Canterbury. Burmarsh is characterised by its semi-detached housing stock, typical of many suburban areas in the South East. ## AdBlue drains around Burmarsh, and Kent beyond Burmarsh is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, Pennypot and West Hythe among them, across the CT postcode area. A postcode starting CT21 6 gets the van to you fastest. Moving the car is not necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Lympne Castle Grounds, a side street near Palmarsh Village Hall: our technicians drain it where it sits. Guessing doesn't help behind Sandtun, close to a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and check. ## Burmarsh drivers: the short version Always, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Kent, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.