AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Church End: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where your car stands around Church End, is normally all it takes if caught before the motor runs. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many newer diesels on the roads round Church End and Streatley carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
There is a filler for each tank. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, while others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur around Church End?
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
On a driveway off Hexton Road before work, or in the car park outside Royal Oak heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar vehicles come next, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company vehicles place their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as easily, and once the tip begins, nothing halts it. Barton-le-Clay or the heart of Church End: it takes the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Church End forecourt or a drive out in Higham Gobion, spend a couple of seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- Many cars fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many vehicles mark which belongs in which filler right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Harlington, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Anywhere in Bedfordshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Manor Road.
- 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 — then leave it on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap was never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Church End already?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
The staff at J Sainsbury Service Station, Texaco or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the vehicle away if asked. Your own driveway around Church End is the place it stays.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M1, under 5 miles from Church End, that means the next junction. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Church End is a smaller job than driving under 25 miles towards St Albans — so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when we arrive around Church End
Outside Ramsey Manor Lower School, near St. Nicholas' Church or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. What liquid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because the answers set both work and price. Nobody sets off before you've heard our price by phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. Once the filter is flushed — or renewed, if required — clean diesel is added, and then the vehicle is tested. The engine is started next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our engineers arrive, as long as the engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Church End and where it is
Church End is a suburban area in Bedfordshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 79 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Church End lies approximately 33.9 miles from London and 15 miles from the nearest city, St Albans. Church End is close to several nearby places, including Barton-le-Clay, Hexton, and Sharpenhoe, and has a population of around 2068 residents. Church End is characterized by its quiet, residential atmosphere, typical of many suburban areas in the Eastern region.
AdBlue drains around Church End and across Bedfordshire
Church End is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Hexton and Sharpenhoe among them, across the MK postcode area. A postcode starting MK45 4 gets our van to you fastest.
Moving your car is not necessary. The drain happens on the spot, whether a drive, a road by Barton Village Hall, or a lay-by towards Barton Hills National Nature Reserve. Awkward to explain, like the back of Barton Rovers FC? Close to a border? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
Church End motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Bedfordshire.