How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cattishall
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down for now, keep your ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Cattishall. Here in advance? In that case the rest explains why it happens and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels in Great Barton, as well as Cattishall, run on two fluids; the motor takes only the diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler for every tank. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think what cap it needs. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
Cattishall: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
On a driveway off Janey Road before work, or in the car park outside The Moreton Hall on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Cattishall or out in Battlies Green.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Blackthorpe or a forecourt in Cattishall, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- Cannot find it beside your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Bury St Edmunds? Check with the person who drove the car last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever in Suffolk the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Esky Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- Both behind a single flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel filler stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Finish when the tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, then look once more — confirm your diesel filler stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays out.
Cattishall: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting the engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the BP, ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump. On your own drive in Cattishall? So the vehicle remains where it is.
Already started? Pull over once it's sensible, then switch off. Leave the M11 — under 50 miles out of Cattishall — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Ely, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Cattishall.
What occurs when we get there around Cattishall
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, whether outside Abbots Green Primary Academy, beside The Church of the Holy Innocents or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because those answers set both work and quote. During the call itself, you hear our price — before dispatch.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. The filter flushed or, where needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your vehicle. Before we go, our engineers start the engine and confirm that it's running properly.
If the motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe 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 an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Cattishall
Cattishall is a small hamlet in Suffolk, situated inland at an elevation of 62 metres, and is located near the villages of Battlies Green and East Barton. Cattishall is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Cattishall sits within the wider Eastern region, approximately 64 miles from London and 23 miles from the city of Ely. Cattishall has a population of around 878 residents, living in a quiet, rural community.
AdBlue drains around Cattishall and across Suffolk
Cattishall is a rural hamlet, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, East Barton and Colton among them, across the IP postcode area. A postcode starting IP31 2 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to move the car. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Skyliner, a lay-by on the way to Severals Clump, a driveway. Assuming won't help behind 94th Bomb Group Control Tower, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
The short version for Cattishall drivers
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in Suffolk, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.