AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chestfield: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your motor has not turned, it is drained and fully purged where the vehicle sits around Chestfield. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads round Chestfield and South Street carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank comes with one filler of its own. Many of cars share a single flap for both, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think which cap it needs. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur around Chestfield?
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Willow Way before work, or in the car park at Chestfield Barn on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar motors come next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company vehicles put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it 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 once it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Chestfield or out in Swalecliffe.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Chestfield forecourt or a drive over in Radfall, spend a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Chestfield & Swalecliffe.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across Kent the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush by The Drive at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Both behind one flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel filler stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Finish when your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Skip step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Chestfield?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Sainsbury's or the Esso, ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. At home in Chestfield? Then the car remains where it is.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit is where to leave when you're on the M2, under 10 miles from Chestfield. Distance counts — a quick hop across Chestfield is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Canterbury — so tell us about how far it went.
When we get there around Chestfield, what happens?
The van reaches the car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, beside Whitstable RFC, or by Swalecliffe Community Primary School. Which fluid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because the replies decide the work and quote. During the phone call itself, you are told our quote — before anything else.
Then the tank is cleared and the fuel system purged thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes out on its own, however long it is left. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before we leave, we start the engine and check that it's running smoothly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our technicians get there, as long as your engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Chestfield
Chestfield is a suburban area on the coast of Kent, situated near the city of Canterbury and close to the nearby places of Swalecliffe, South Tankerton, and Church Street. Chestfield has a population of approximately 2611 residents and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Chestfield sits at a low elevation of around 15 metres above sea level, looking out over the coastal landscape. Chestfield is located around 52.5 miles from London, making it a commuter option for those working in the capital.
AdBlue drains in Chestfield and across Kent
Chestfield is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns near it, South Tankerton and Church Street among them, across the CT postcode area. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting CT5 3.
No need to move the car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Chestfield Cricket Club, a side street close to Swalecliffe Library: our engineers drain the vehicle where it stands. Tricky to explain, like the back of St John the Baptist? By a county line? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
The short version for Chestfield motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep it switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout Kent.