Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chalkwell: Why It Occurs
Leave your engine and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Chalkwell. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
No single fluid but two: that's how plenty of newer diesels around Chalkwell and Bobbing carry, with diesel feeding your engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There's a filler for every tank. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs in Chalkwell
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Kenilworth Court before work, or in the car park outside The Billet on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is a second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
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 once it has started. Whether it happens in Grove Park or the middle of Chalkwell, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Chalkwell forecourt or a driveway out in Milton Regis, spend a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- Can't find it beside your diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says where.
- The previous driver knows. Check as you collect a hire car or fleet car — from Sittingbourne's car park, perhaps — rather than when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
On the day the light appears — anywhere you are around Kent — a simple routine to follow.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Bourne Grove.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have found the filler and read it.
- Both behind a single flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel side stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never came off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Leave out stage five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Chalkwell?
The short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Esso, the Shell or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Chalkwell.
Already started? Stop when it's sensible, then switch off. On the M2, under 3 miles from Chalkwell, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Chalkwell is smaller a job than a run of under 15 miles to Southend-on-Sea, so say.
When our technicians turn up in Chalkwell, what happens?
By Westlands Primary School, close to New House or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because the replies settle the work and the quote. That price comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
The system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is drained. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it washes away by itself. That is why it counts more. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. After that our technicians start the car and check it runs smoothly before we go.
If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Chalkwell
Chalkwell is a suburban area in Kent, situated on the coast near the mouth of the Thames estuary. Chalkwell has a relatively low elevation of 22 metres and is located approximately 38 miles from London. Chalkwell is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock and is close to nearby places such as Grove Park and Key Street. Chalkwell is also near the town of Sittingbourne and the city of Southend-on-Sea, which is 13.5 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Kent, Chalkwell included
Key Street and Sittingbourne are among the towns around Chalkwell, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over ME postcodes. A postcode starting ME10 1 gets our van to you fastest.
The car doesn't need to shift. Wherever it stands — near Sittingbourne Islamic Cultural Centre, on a lay-by heading to The Meads, on a drive — that is where it is cleared. Guessing won't help at the back of The O'Sullivan Centre, close to a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
Chalkwell motorists: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Kent, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — and so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.