AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Furneux Pelham: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the car sits in Furneux Pelham, is normally what it takes if caught before the engine runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels in East End, as well as Furneux Pelham, carry on two liquids; the engine takes only your diesel. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place the two together under one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. It's in that gap that the slip happens.
Furneux Pelham: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a drive off The Causeway before work, or in the car park at The Brewery Tap heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as easily, and after the tip starts, nothing stops it. Barleycroft End or the heart of Furneux Pelham: it is the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Furneux Pelham forecourt or a drive out in Gravesend, spend a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Stansted Mountfitchet.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Hertfordshire that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of The Street.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've located your filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Furneux Pelham?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the BP, the Amco or somewhere else. On your own drive around Furneux Pelham? Then your car remains put.
When the motor has run by now, stop safely then switch it off. Come off the M11 — under 10 miles out of Furneux Pelham — at the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Furneux Pelham is less a job than a run of under 25 miles towards Cambridge, and so say.
Our arrival around Furneux Pelham, and what takes place next
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Furneux Pelham Church of England School, near St Mary The Virgin, Furneux Pelham or on your own drive. What liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because those answers set both work and price. On the call itself, you hear our price — before dispatch.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals form, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears out unaided, however long it is left. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we leave, our engineers fire it up and check that it is running smoothly.
If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Furneux Pelham
Furneux Pelham is a small village in Hertfordshire, situated near the River Ash and characterised by its detached housing stock. Furneux Pelham sits at an elevation of 107 metres, with the village centre surrounded by rolling countryside. Furneux Pelham is located near several smaller settlements, including Barleycroft End and Patient End, and is within commuting distance of Cambridge. Furneux Pelham has a population of around 524 residents, who enjoy its rural setting and relatively close proximity to London, some 30.6 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Furneux Pelham and across Hertfordshire
Furneux Pelham is a village, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, Patient End and The Willows among them, across the SG postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a SG9 0 postcode for our van.
Shifting the car isn't necessary. Wherever it stands — near St Mary, Stocking Pelham, in a layby heading to Merlin Wood, on a drive — that's where it is drained. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Brent Pelham Village Hall.
For Furneux Pelham people, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Hertfordshire.