Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hockwold cum Wilton: Why It Occurs
Pause here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the motor has not turned, it's drained and thoroughly cleaned where your vehicle sits around Hockwold cum Wilton. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single liquid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels around Hockwold cum Wilton and Town Street run, with diesel for the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank comes with a filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt call-out, again and again. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think what cap it needs. It's in the gap that the mistake happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Hockwold cum Wilton?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off Mill Lane before work, or in the car park at The Red Lion heading home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars place their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Nothing halts the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Hockwold cum Wilton or out in Feltwell.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Wangford or a forecourt around Hockwold cum Wilton.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Lakenheath? Check with whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, anywhere across Norfolk, follow this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush by Main Street on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly using its built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, then look once more — confirm your diesel filler remained shut throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Don't go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hockwold cum Wilton already?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. Keep your ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it by itself starts the pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at the nearest petrol station, Merco or another forecourt will normally help pushing the car clear if asked. If you are on your own drive around Hockwold cum Wilton, leave the car where it is.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction means the place to come off when you are on the M11, under 50 miles from Hockwold cum Wilton. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Hockwold cum Wilton makes a smaller job than heading under 15 miles towards Ely — so say roughly how far it went.
What occurs when we get there in Hockwold cum Wilton
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Iceni Primary Academy, close to Hockwold Village Club or on your own drive. The replies settle the work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it has run. No one sets off until you have heard the quote by phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of that clears away on its own, however long it sits. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or changed as needed. We don't leave until it has been started and is running properly.
If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Hockwold cum Wilton itself
Hockwold cum Wilton is a rural village in Norfolk, situated in the eastern part of the county, with a low elevation of around 7 metres. Hockwold cum Wilton lies near the villages of Feltwell, Weeting, and Fengate, and is approximately 12.8 miles from the city of Ely. Hockwold cum Wilton has a population of around 980 people, predominantly living in detached houses.
Hockwold cum Wilton and Norfolk: AdBlue drains across the area
As a rural village, Hockwold cum Wilton shares its vans nearby areas — Weeting, Fengate — right through IP postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting IP26 4 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting your car isn't necessary. The drain happens right there, whether a drive, a road by Hockwold cum-Wilton Village Sign, or a lay-by towards Hockwold Playing Field. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Hockwold Village Hall, on a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
Hockwold cum Wilton people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it stands, anywhere around Norfolk: switch the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.