AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fordham Heath: Why It Happens and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, keep the ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out just where your vehicle stands around Fordham Heath, is usually all it takes when caught before the engine runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels around Fordstreet, like those in Fordham Heath, run on two liquids; your motor takes just the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both together behind one flap. Diesel gets filled at each filling station call-out, week in, week out. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
Fordham Heath: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off Fiddlers Folly before work, or in the car park at The Cricketers on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
Nothing halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's seconds, whether out in Seven Star Green or bang in the heart of Fordham Heath.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Aldham or a forecourt around Fordham Heath.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles show what goes in each inlet right there.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, 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 Marks Tey, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Anywhere in Essex the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and never rushed beside Porters Cottages at the roadside.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — once you've located the filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Fordham Heath?
Short list, then. First: the engine remains unstarted. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Esso, Sainsbury's or another forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the car away if you ask. Your own drive around Fordham Heath is the place it should stay.
When your motor has been run by now, pull over safely and turn the car off. Fordham Heath lies under 50 miles from the M11; on it, take the first exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Colchester, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Fordham Heath.
Fordham Heath: what takes place when our technicians arrive
Wherever your car has stopped, be it by Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, Eight Ash Green and Aldham, near All Saints, Eight Ash Green or on your own drive, the van travels to it. We ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run, since those answers determine this work and our quote. Nobody sets off until you have heard our quote by phone.
Then the tank is cleared and your system purged thoroughly. 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. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before leaving, our technicians start the car and check that it is running properly.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run need roughly half an hour after we are there. The insurer usually wants 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 many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Fordham Heath
Fordham Heath is a locality in Essex, situated inland at an elevation of 44 metres, approximately 3.9 miles from Colchester. Fordham Heath is characterized by its semi-detached housing and is located near other small communities such as Seven Star Green and Eight Ash Green. Fordham Heath has a population of around 674 residents and is within commuting distance of London, being about 48.6 miles from the city. Fordham Heath is also close to Gallows Green, another nearby locality.
AdBlue drains around Fordham Heath and across Essex
Eight Ash Green and Gallows Green are among the towns around Fordham Heath, a small village, that the same vans cover, over CO postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting CO3 9.
There's no need to shift the car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to the green space at the edge of the village, a side street close to Eight Ash Green Village Hall: our technicians drain the car where it sits. Guessing doesn't help behind All Saints, Fordham, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
For Fordham Heath motorists, the short version
First, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Essex, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.