Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chells Manor: Why It Happens
Stop reading for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Around Chells Manor, finding it before the motor turns usually means a drain and a full flush where it stands. Here in advance? Then the rest explains why it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that is how many newer diesels near Chells Manor and Walkern carry, with diesel feeding the motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors share a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, week in, week out. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think which filler it needs. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
Chells Manor: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Pacatian Way, or on the way home in the car park at Emperor's Head.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and once the tip begins, no part halts it. It's seconds, whether in Chells or right in the heart of Chells Manor.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Rooks Nest or a forecourt around Chells Manor.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Stevenage, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere around Hertfordshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of The Pastures.
- 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 — and leave the car on.
- Stop when that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently through its own spout.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Chells Manor already?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting your motor. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — Shell, Sainsbury's or another — the staff will normally help push the vehicle away, when you ask. Your own drive in Chells Manor is the place it stays.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Chells Manor sits under 3 miles from the A1(M); there, take the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Chells Manor is less a job than a trip of under 15 miles to St Albans, and so say.
What takes place when our technicians arrive in Chells Manor
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Lodge Farm Primary School, near Chells Manor Community Centre or on your own drive. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — which liquid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so we ask. You get that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Draining your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. Hence it counts more. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of your car. We don't go until it has been started and is running correctly.
If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About Chells Manor
Chells Manor is a suburban area in Hertfordshire, situated approximately 28 miles north of London and 14 miles southeast of St Albans. Chells Manor sits in a relatively elevated position at around 130 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Chells Manor is located near other residential areas, including Chells and Pin Green, and is part of the wider Stevenage urban area.
AdBlue drains across Hertfordshire, Chells Manor included
Chells Manor is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Pin Green and Aston End among them, across the SG postcode area. Give a postcode that starts SG2 7, and our van gets there quickest.
The car remains where it is. The drain happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a street near St Hugh & St John, or a lay-by on the way to Martins Wood. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Polar Bear, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Chells Manor motorists
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Hertfordshire.