Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Higham
Pause reading for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Higham. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that's how many newer diesels near Higham and Shorne Ridgeway run, with diesel feeding the engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both side by side behind one flap. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in the gap that the mistake lives.
Higham: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Villa Road, or heading home in the car park outside Gardeners Arms.
Unfamiliar motors come second, as well. Rentals, new motors and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after started, carries on. It takes seconds, be it out in Gadshill or right in the centre of Higham.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Higham forecourt or a driveway out in Mockbeggar, take a couple of seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Check as you collect a rental or company car — from the nearest station's car park, say — rather than once the warning appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere you are around Kent — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of School Lane, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located your filler and read the cap.
- The two under one flap? So make sure the lid on the diesel filler is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Stop when that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently through the own spout.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and check again that the diesel cap was never came off.
Find during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Do not go on to step five.
Higham: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Asda Express, Esso or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car away when asked. Your own driveway around Higham is the place it stays.
When your engine has been run by now, pull over somewhere safe then turn the car off. Higham sits under a mile from the M2; on it, take the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Southend-on-Sea, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Higham.
Our arrival around Higham, and what occurs next
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Higham Primary School, near Higham Library or on your own drive. The replies decide the work and the price, and so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it has run. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. 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. The filter cleaned or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. Before we go, we fire it up and make sure that it is running properly.
Unrun vehicles usually need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Higham, briefly
Higham is a village in Kent, situated inland at an elevation of 68 metres, and is located near the towns of Southend-on-Sea and Gravesend. Higham has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant, and is close to nearby places such as Gadshill and Shorne. Higham is also within commuting distance of London, being approximately 26 miles from the city centre. Higham has a population of around 2337 people, according to recent estimates.
Higham and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
Over ME postcodes, the teams that cover Higham — a rural village — work the nearby spots too, Shorne and Lower Higham included. Fastest of all: give a ME3 7 postcode to our van.
Your car remains put. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a street near St. John's Church, or a lay-by towards Court Wood. Assuming doesn't help behind Larkin Monument, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
Higham drivers: the short version
Pour no AdBlue until you have read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it is, anywhere in Kent: keep it off and phone 0333 366 0103.