AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Foxton: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. In Foxton, finding it before the engine runs normally leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to the engine — yet plenty of newer diesels driven around Foxton and Newton carry a second fluid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on many motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled 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 much less frequently. The error lives in that gap.
Foxton: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running out means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off High Street, or at White Horse on the way home after work.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have 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 after it has started. Whether it occurs in Shepreth or the middle of Foxton, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Harston or a forecourt around Foxton.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — many cars mark what belongs in each filler just there.
- Can't see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at the nearest station? Check with the person who drove it last before leaving, rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
When the light comes on, anywhere in Cambridgeshire, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Edis Way, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — once you've found the filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, shut the cap and look again that your diesel cap never came off.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Don't carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Foxton already?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at BP, Thames Petrol or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing your car away if asked. If you are on your own drive around Foxton, leave the vehicle where it sits.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Foxton sits under 3 miles from the M11; on it, use the first exit. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Foxton is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles to Cambridge — so say roughly how far it went.
Foxton: what takes place when our engineers turn up
The van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own drive, near Foxton War Memorial, or by Foxton Primary School. Both the work and our price depend on three answers — which liquid, which amount, and whether it has run — so we ask. During the call itself, you are told our price — before anything else.
Then your tank is drained and your system flushed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of it clears away unaided, however long it is left. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your car. We do not leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after we arrive, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. No money in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Foxton and where it is
Foxton is a small village in Cambridgeshire, situated approximately 6.7 miles southwest of Cambridge. Foxton sits in a low-lying area of the county, with an elevation of around 20 metres, and is surrounded by other villages such as Shepreth and Barrington. Foxton has a population of around 629 people, predominantly living in detached houses.
Foxton and Cambridgeshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout CB postcodes, our teams that cover Foxton — a rural village — work the surrounding locations too, Fowlmere and Barrington included. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting CB22 6.
The vehicle stays put. Wherever it stands — near Foxton Methodist Church, on a layby heading to Foxton Wood, on a drive — that's where it is cleared. Guessing won't help behind Dove Cot, on a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
Foxton drivers: the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Cambridgeshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103.