AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chedburgh: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where your vehicle sits in Chedburgh, is usually all it needs when caught before the motor runs. Here in advance? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels in Broad Green, as well as Chedburgh, carry on two liquids; your motor gets just the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
Chedburgh: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Lancaster Close, or on the way home in the car park outside The Greyhound.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once started, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Chedburgh or out in Tan Office Green.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Depden or a forecourt around Chedburgh.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you collect a hire car or company car — at Bury St Edmunds's car park, say — not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, anywhere in Suffolk, follow this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and never in a rush by Major's Close on the verge.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you've located your filler and read it.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop when the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently through its built-in spout.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Chedburgh: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or the another forecourt nearby, ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Chedburgh.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Come off the M11 — under 25 miles out of Chedburgh — at the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Ely, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Chedburgh.
Chedburgh: what takes place when we get there
Outside Wickhambrook Primary Academy, near Erskine Centre or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run, because the answers determine this work and the quote. Nobody heads out until you've heard the quote over the phone.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes away unaided, however long it is left. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Your engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before we leave.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Chedburgh, for a moment
Chedburgh is a small village in Suffolk, situated inland at an elevation of around 120 metres. Chedburgh lies near the villages of Tan Office Green, Depden Green, and Little Knowles Green, and is approximately 20 miles from the city of Ely. Chedburgh has a population of around 541 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Chedburgh is also within commuting distance of London, being around 57 miles from the capital.
AdBlue drains around Chedburgh and across Suffolk
Chedburgh is a rural village, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Depden Green and Little Knowles Green among them, across the IP postcode area. Fastest of all: give a IP29 4 postcode to the van.
The vehicle does not need to shift. The drain takes place on the spot, be it a drive, a road near Chedburgh Village Sign, or a layby towards Francis Wood. Assuming doesn't help at the back of All Saints, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
The short version for Chedburgh people
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Suffolk, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.