Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Greatstone-on-Sea
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Greatstone-on-Sea. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the why it happens and the ways to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels around Lydd, as well as Greatstone-on-Sea, run on two liquids; your engine takes only your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of cars 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 pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Greatstone-on-Sea
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Coast Drive, or heading home in the car park at The Jolly Fisherman.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is the second thing: a strange motor.
Nothing halts the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, be it in Littlestone-on-Sea or bang in the centre of Greatstone-on-Sea.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these first, on a forecourt in Greatstone-on-Sea or a driveway out in Lydd-on-Sea. Seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Appledore (Kent)? Ask the person who drove the car last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere across Kent, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of The Parade, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both share a flap, confirm it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Stage five is off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Greatstone-on-Sea?
Don't start the motor: that is where the short order of things begins. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Esso, the Usher Motors or anywhere else. Your own driveway in Greatstone-on-Sea is the place it should stay.
Already started? Pull over when it's sensible, then switch off. The next exit means the place to come off when you are on the M20, under 10 miles from Greatstone-on-Sea. A short hop across Greatstone-on-Sea is a smaller job than a run towards Canterbury, under 25 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
What occurs when our engineers arrive around Greatstone-on-Sea
By Greatstone Primary School, near St Peters or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three answers — which liquid, what amount, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. Nobody sets off before you've had our quote over the phone.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, after that tank is emptied. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more here than with petrol. The filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of the car. Before we go, our engineers fire it up and confirm that it's running correctly.
Unrun vehicles usually need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. No money 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's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Greatstone-on-Sea and where it is
Greatstone-on-Sea is a small coastal village in Kent, situated on the Romney Marshes at an elevation of around 4 metres. Greatstone-on-Sea lies near the towns of New Romney and Littlestone-on-Sea, and is approximately 22 miles from Canterbury. Greatstone-on-Sea has a population of around 1268 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Greatstone-on-Sea is also about 60 miles from London, making it a relatively rural community on the south-east coast of England.
AdBlue drains across Kent, Greatstone-on-Sea included
Greatstone-on-Sea is a coastal village, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Lade and New Romney among them, across the TN postcode area. A postcode starting TN28 8 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Lydd Golf Club, a side street close to Romney Sands: our technicians drain the car where it stands. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Swimming Pool, close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
In short, for Greatstone-on-Sea drivers
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere in Kent.