AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chimswell: How It Happens and How to Stop It
Stop here for a moment if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. In Chimswell, catching it before your engine turns usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads around Chimswell and Hazel Stub carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to fresh it, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on each tank. Many of vehicles have a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. The slip lives in that gap.
Chimswell: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Haycocks Road, or on the way home in the car park outside The Flying Shuttle.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: a strange car.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as easily, and after the pour begins, nothing halts it. It's seconds, whether out in Hanchett End or right in the heart of Chimswell.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Chimswell forecourt or a driveway out in Clements, spend a few seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- The handbook says which it lives when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Dullingham.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Suffolk that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Bergamot Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two share a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Leave out step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Chimswell?
Don't start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, right where fuel is taken from.
At a forecourt — Sainsbury's, BP or any other — the staff will usually help push the car away, when you ask. Your own drive around Chimswell is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. Leave the M11 — under 10 miles out of Chimswell — at the first junction. A short hop across Chimswell is a smaller job than a run towards Cambridge, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our technicians turn up in Chimswell
Wherever the car came to rest, be it by St Felix Roman Catholic Primary School, Haverhill, near The Spirit of Enterprise or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Which liquid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because the answers set the work and quote. No one sets off until you have had the price over the phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes out by itself. That is why it matters more. Once the filter is cleaned — or renewed, where needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally your vehicle gets tested. Before leaving, our technicians start the car and confirm that it is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Chimswell
Chimswell is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Suffolk, with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. Chimswell sits at an elevation of 92 metres, close to the nearby settlements of Hanchett End and Hanchett Village. Chimswell is located near the city of Cambridge, which is approximately 14.7 miles away, and is also within commuting distance of London, at around 46.2 miles. Chimswell has a population of around 3890 people, with a range of local amenities and services.
Chimswell and Suffolk: AdBlue drains across the area
Chimswell is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Hanchett Village and Parkway among them, across the CB postcode area. A postcode starting CB9 7 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car does not need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Barsey Green, a side street near St Felix Catholic Church: our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. Tricky to explain, like the back of Leiston Community Centre? By a county line? Asking is better than guessing, so phone.
For Chimswell motorists, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Suffolk.