AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fenlake: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Around Fenlake, catching it before the motor runs normally leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Further down, the page explains the why it occurs and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels around Harrowden, like those in Fenlake, carry on two liquids; the engine gets just your diesel. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from its own tank.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Many of cars share a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Fenlake?
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from your car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Barford Avenue, or at The Bull on the way home that evening.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
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. It takes seconds, be it out in South End or right in the heart of Fenlake.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Fenlake or a driveway out in Elstow. A few seconds, that's all.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Open the flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles show what belongs in which filler right there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Bedford St Johns, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere around Bedfordshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Faldo Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and check 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. Skip stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Fenlake already?
Do not start the engine: that is how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the Tesco, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump. Your own driveway around Fenlake is the place it should stay.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit means the place to come off if you are on the M1, under 10 miles from Fenlake. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Milton Keynes, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Fenlake.
When we get there around Fenlake, what occurs?
Our van comes to the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, near St. Michael and All Angels, or outside King's Oak Primary School. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. No one sets off before you've had the quote by phone.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, after your tank is cleared. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more here than with petrol. Testing comes last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. Your engine is started next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before we head off.
If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Fenlake, for a moment
Fenlake is a suburban area in Bedfordshire, situated on the banks of the River Great Ouse at an elevation of around 28 metres. Fenlake lies near the city of Bedford and the nearby settlements of South End and Eastcotts, with Milton Keynes approximately 14 miles to the west. Fenlake has a population of around 6998 people and is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Fenlake is also located within commuting distance of London, about 45 miles to the south-east.
AdBlue drains around Fenlake and across Bedfordshire
Throughout MK postcodes, our teams that cover Fenlake — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Bedford and Eastcotts among them. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting MK42 0.
Your car does not need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Jubilee Park, a side street near London Road Methodist Church: our engineers drain it where it stands. Awkward to explain, like the back of Oasis Beach Pool? By a border? Asking beats assuming, and so ring.
The short version for Fenlake motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere in Bedfordshire.