Heybridge: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Pause reading a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Heybridge, finding it before the motor runs normally leaves draining and a thorough flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it takes place and the how to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Not one fluid but two: that is what many modern diesels around Heybridge and Langford carry, with diesel for the engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. It's in the gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Heybridge
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Towers Road before work, or in the car park at The Muddy Duck on the way home.
Unfamiliar motors are second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors place their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once started, carries on. It's a few seconds, whether out in Broad Street Green or right in the heart of Heybridge.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Great Totham or a forecourt around Heybridge, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Witham, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, anywhere across Essex, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Wood 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 finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check again — confirm the diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never carry on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Heybridge?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Leave the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Tesco, Morrisons or another forecourt will usually help to push the vehicle clear if you ask. Your own drive in Heybridge is the place it should stay.
When the motor has been run already, stop somewhere safe and turn the vehicle off. Heybridge sits under 25 miles from the M25; there, take the next junction. A short hop across Heybridge is a smaller job than a run towards Chelmsford, under 10 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Heybridge, and what occurs next
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Heybridge Primary School, near Plantation Hall or on your own driveway. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — which fluid, what amount, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. On the call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of anything else.
Then that tank is cleared and your system rinsed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a check of the car. Before leaving, our engineers start it and check that it's running properly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine has not run need about half an hour after our technicians arrive. No money in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Heybridge and where it is
Heybridge is a suburban area in Essex, situated near the coast and approximately 8 metres above sea level. Heybridge lies close to the city of Chelmsford and the town of Maldon, with nearby places including Broad Street Green and Heybridge Basin. Heybridge has a population of around 4824 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing.
Heybridge and Essex: AdBlue drains across the area
Heybridge is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Maldon and Heybridge Basin among them, across the CM postcode area. A postcode starting CM9 4 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to King George's Playing Fields, a side street close to War Memorial: our engineers drain it where it sits. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of St Andrew's Church, Heybridge.
For Heybridge people, the short version
Pour nothing until you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Essex, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103.