--- title: Explained: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank Handcross canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/handcross-west-sussex/ location: Handcross county: West Sussex latitude: 51.053580 longitude: -0.200410 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-03 --- # AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Handcross: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. Around Handcross, finding it before the engine turns normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. Reading in advance? In that case what follows explains why it happens and how to stop it happening at all. ## Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler? Many modern diesels in Ashfold Crossways, like those in Handcross, run on two fluids; the engine gets just the diesel. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank. Every tank has a filler of its own. Many of vehicles have a single flap for both, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on each filling station visit, again and again. 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 mistake lives. ## How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Handcross Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up at once. Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle 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 drive off Horsham Road, or heading home in the car park at The Red Lion. The old car's cap is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: an unfamiliar vehicle. Nothing stops the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it happens in Slaugham or the middle of Handcross, it is the same few seconds. ## Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Pease Pottage or a forecourt in Handcross. - Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't. - The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two. - The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where. - The handbook shows which it lives if the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet. - Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you collect a rental or company car — from Balcombe's car park, perhaps — not when the warning appears. ## Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank When the light comes on, anywhere in West Sussex, use this routine. - Not in a rush on the side of Cuckfield Road, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off first. - Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, yet it works. - If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on. - Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty. - Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car. Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Step five is off limits. ## Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Handcross already? Do not start the engine: that is how the short order of things begins. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, right where fuel is drawn from. If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Esso, ask the attendants to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. Your own driveway around Handcross is where it should stay. Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. On the M23, under 3 miles from Handcross, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Handcross is less work than a run of under 25 miles to Brighton and Hove, so tell us. ## What happens when our engineers get there around Handcross The van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Handcross Baptist Chapel, or by Handcross Primary School. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — what fluid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so we ask. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of anything else. Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once the tank is drained. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running smoothly. Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor has not run take roughly half an hour after we arrive. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling. ## About Handcross, briefly Handcross is a village situated in the riverside setting of the High Weald in West Sussex, with an elevation of around 154 metres. Handcross lies near the borders of several neighbouring villages, including Slaugham and Staplefield, and is surrounded by scenic countryside. Handcross has a population of approximately 1072 residents, living in predominantly semi-detached housing. Handcross is located within commuting distance of major cities, including Brighton and Hove, which is 16.1 miles away, and London, which is 31.5 miles away. ## AdBlue drains across West Sussex, Handcross included Staplefield and Tilgate Forest Row are among the towns around Handcross, a village, that the same vans cover, throughout RH postcodes. Give a postcode beginning RH17 6, and our van arrives quickest. No need to move your car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near All Saints, a lay-by on the way to Handcross Recreation Ground, a driveway. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Owl? By a county line? Checking is better than assuming, and so phone. ## For Handcross drivers, the short version Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, anywhere in West Sussex: switch the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.