Fenstanton: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Leave your motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Around Fenstanton, finding it before the motor runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. Here in advance? Then what follows covers how it comes about and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
No single liquid but two: that is what plenty of modern diesels near Fenstanton and Hemingford Grey carry, with diesel for your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. 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 petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think what cap to use. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Fenstanton?
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Hilton Road before work, or in the car park outside The Duchess heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
New-to-you cars are next, as well. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
Nothing halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Fen Drayton or the heart of Fenstanton: it takes the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Hilton or a forecourt around Fenstanton.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you collect a rental or company car — at Huntingdon's car park, say — not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever across Cambridgeshire, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Chequer Street, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've found the filler and read it.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once your tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently using the own spout.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Fenstanton?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Shell, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. If you're on your own drive around Fenstanton, leave the vehicle where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Fenstanton lies under 10 miles from the M11; on it, use the next junction. Distance matters — a quick hop across Fenstanton is a smaller job than driving under 15 miles towards Cambridge — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Fenstanton: what occurs when our technicians turn up
Wherever the car has stopped, be it outside Fenstanton and Hilton Primary School, beside Fenstanton United Reformed Church or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, since the replies decide the work and the price. You get that price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of it washes away unaided. That is why it matters more. Once the fuel filter has been cleaned — or replaced, if required — clean diesel is added, and then your vehicle gets tested. Next our engineers start the car and check it runs smoothly before leaving.
Unrun vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Fenstanton, briefly
Fenstanton is a village situated on the banks of the River Great Ouse in Cambridgeshire, with a low elevation of around 14 metres. Fenstanton lies near the cities of Cambridge and St Ives, and is also close to the villages of Fen Drayton and Conington. Fenstanton has a population of approximately 1649 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Fenstanton is located about 54.7 miles from London, making it a commuter village with easy access to the capital.
AdBlue drains in Fenstanton and across Cambridgeshire
Fenstanton is a village, and the vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Conington and St Ives among them, across the PE postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a PE28 9 postcode for our van.
No need to shift your car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to The Wilderness, a side street near St Peter and St Paul's Church: our technicians drain the car where it sits. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Roman Coin Found, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Fenstanton drivers, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, wherever in Cambridgeshire: keep the car off then call 0333 366 0103.