AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Crumbles: How It Happens and How to Stop It
Stop reading a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your engine hasn't turned, it is drained and fully cleaned where the vehicle sits around Crumbles. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels around Pevensey Bay, like those in Crumbles, run on two fluids; the motor takes just your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
There's a filler for every tank. On a lot of motors 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, the diesel side gets filled all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Crumbles?
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off San Diego Way before work, or in the car park at Martello Inn on the way home.
New-to-you vehicles are second, as well. Rentals, new cars 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 tip once it has started. Whether it happens in Langney Village or the middle of Crumbles, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Westham or a forecourt around Crumbles.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you collect a rental or company car — at Pevensey & Westham's car park, say — not when the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around East Sussex that is.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and not rushed by Long Beach Close on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never carry on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Crumbles?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so leave it off. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Asda or the Premier Marina, ask the staff to help push your car away from the pump. Your own drive in Crumbles is where it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. On the M23, under 50 miles from Crumbles, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Crumbles is less work than a run of under 25 miles towards Brighton and Hove, so say.
Our arrival in Crumbles, and what occurs next
Our van reaches the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, near Sovereign Harbour Community Centre, or outside The Haven Church of England Methodist Primary School. Both the work and the price depend on three answers — which fluid, which amount, and if it's run — so we ask. During the phone call itself, you are told our price — ahead of anything else.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Before we leave, we fire it up and confirm that it is running correctly.
Unrun vehicles mostly need a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is fine on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. It is worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Crumbles, for a moment
Crumbles is a small coastal village in East Sussex, situated near the towns of Langney and Langney Village. Crumbles has a low elevation of around 3 metres, reflecting its seaside location. Crumbles is home to a population of approximately 2571 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Crumbles is within commuting distance of Brighton and Hove, located 21 miles away.
Crumbles and East Sussex: AdBlue drains across the area
Langney and St Anthonys Hill are among the towns around Crumbles, a coastal village, that the same teams cover, over BN postcodes. A postcode starting BN23 5 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving your car isn't necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near TK Maxx, a lay-by on the way to Chatham Green, a driveway. Assuming won't help behind Fisherman’s Memorial, close to a border, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and check.
In short, for Crumbles people
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout East Sussex.