AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fishers Green: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, keep the ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the engine has not run, it is emptied and thoroughly purged where your vehicle sits around Fishers Green. Reading in advance? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Many modern diesels on the roads round Fishers Green and Old Town carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of vehicles share a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every filling station visit, again and again. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Fishers Green: how it takes place
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and running dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Kessingland Avenue, perhaps at The Fisherman on the way home that evening.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is a second thing: a new motor.
Nothing halts the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it happens in Todds Green or the middle of Fishers Green, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Whether a Fishers Green forecourt or a driveway over in Titmore Green, take a few seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check when you pick up a hire car or fleet car — at Stevenage's car park, perhaps — not when the warning appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere across Hertfordshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Fishers Green, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Step five is off limits.
Fishers Green: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Short order, then. First: the motor stays unstarted. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Sainsbury's, Costco or any other — the staff will normally help push the car clear, when you ask. If you are on your own driveway in Fishers Green, leave the car where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. On the A1(M), under a mile from Fishers Green, that means the next exit. A short hop across Fishers Green is a smaller job than a run towards St Albans, under 15 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Fishers Green, and what takes place next
By Woolenwick Infant and Nursery School, close to Christ the King or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it's run, because the answers decide this work and our price. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Draining your tank comes next, then a full flush of your 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 matters more here than with petrol. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or replaced as needed. After that our engineers start the car and make sure it runs correctly before we go.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Fishers Green itself
Fishers Green is a suburban area in Hertfordshire, situated approximately 28.8 miles north of London and 12.6 miles southeast of St Albans. Fishers Green lies in a relatively low-lying area at an elevation of around 98 metres, surrounded by other local communities such as Todds Green and Symonds Green. Fishers Green is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, which reflects the typical residential development patterns of the region. Fishers Green has a population of around 3427 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains around Fishers Green and across Hertfordshire
Throughout SG postcodes, the vans that cover Fishers Green — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Lower Titmore Green and Symonds Green among them. Quickest of all: quote a SG1 2 postcode to the van.
No need to shift the vehicle. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Lucas's Wood, a side street close to Old Rail Station: we drain the car where it stands. Guessing doesn't help behind The Healing Tree, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
For Fishers Green people, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across Hertfordshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.