AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Church End: How It Happens and How to Stop It
Pause reading for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Church End, finding it before your motor runs normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads about Church End and Tebworth carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
Church End: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and running out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Goose Green, perhaps at the pub in the village on the way home that evening.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have 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, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Church End or out in Hockliffe.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Tilsworth or a forecourt in Church End, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles show what belongs in which filler just there.
- Cannot find it beside the diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say where.
- Check with 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 Leighton Buzzard.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — wherever you are in Bedfordshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Church Lane.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, shut the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
Church End: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Do not start your engine: that is where the short order of things begins. Keep your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts the pump. Filling up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, right where fuel is taken from.
The staff at BP, Morrisons or any forecourt will normally help pushing your car clear when asked. If you are on your own drive around Church End, leave it where it stands.
Already run? Stop once it's safe, then switch off. Leave the M1 — under 5 miles out of Church End — at the first junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Milton Keynes, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Church End.
What happens when we arrive around Church End
Anywhere your car came to rest, whether by Hockliffe Lower School, near St Nicholas or at home, the van travels to it. Our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run, because the answers determine the work and our price. That price is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Then your tank is cleared and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. Hence it counts more. The filter flushed or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of your vehicle. Your engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our engineers leave.
Unrun cars usually need a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is safe on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Church End itself
Church End is a small suburban area in Bedfordshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 126 metres. Church End lies near several villages, including Hockliffe, Battlesden, and Eggington, and is within commuting distance of Milton Keynes. Church End has a population of around 546 people and is characterized by terraced housing. Church End is also relatively close to London, at a distance of approximately 35.6 miles.
AdBlue drains around Church End and across Bedfordshire
Over LU postcodes, the vans covering Church End — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Eggington and Battlesden included. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting LU7 9.
The car stays where it is. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Goose Green, a side street near Eggington Village Hall: we drain it where it sits. Guessing won't help behind St Michael's Church, on a border, or somewhere hard to describe; phone and check.
Church End people: the short version
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere around Bedfordshire.