Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hales: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Hales. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads about Hales and Brundish carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of cars share a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on each filling station call-out, week in, week out. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what filler it needs. That gap is where the error lives.
Hales: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off The Boltons before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is a second thing: an unfamiliar motor.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once begun, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Hales or out in Heckingham.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Stubbs Green or a forecourt around Hales, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- Can't find it next to your diesel filler? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Reedham (Norfolk), ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere in Norfolk the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Green Lane, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located your filler and read the cap.
- Both under a single flap? So confirm the cap on the diesel side stays shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Do not go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hales already?
Do not start your engine: that's where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Shell, the Fuelsell or anywhere else. If you're on your own driveway around Hales, leave the car where it is.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then switch off. Come off the M11 — over 50 miles out of Hales — at the first junction. A short hop across Hales is a smaller job than a run towards Norwich, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival around Hales, and what takes place next
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, whether outside Loddon Junior School, near Hales and Heckingham Village Sign or on your own drive, our van travels to it. We ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run, because those answers decide the work and the quote. No one sets off before you've heard our price over the phone.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. Hence it matters more. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. After that our technicians fire it up and check it runs smoothly before leaving.
Unrun vehicles usually need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It's worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Hales, for a moment
Hales is a small village in south Norfolk, situated near the market town of Loddon and the villages of Heckingham and Raveningham. Hales lies in a low-lying area of the Norfolk countryside, with an elevation of around 15 metres, and is approximately 11 miles from the city of Norwich. Hales has a population of around 525 people, predominantly living in detached houses.
AdBlue drains around Hales, and Norfolk beyond
Hales is a rural village, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, Raveningham and Loddon among them, across the NR postcode area. Give a postcode beginning NR14 6, and our van arrives fastest.
The car stays put. Anywhere it stands — beside Saint Margaret, on a layby en route to Hales Green - Open Access Land, on a drive — that's where it gets cleared. Awkward to explain, like the back of Saint Gregory's? Close to a border? Checking beats guessing, so ring.
In short, for Hales people
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere in Norfolk.