AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hollingdean: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where the vehicle sits in Hollingdean, is normally what it needs if caught before your engine runs. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your engine — but many modern diesels seen about Hollingdean and Hollingbury carry a second liquid too. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
There is a filler on each tank. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both together behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think what filler it needs. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hollingdean: how it occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
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 drive off Stanmer Park Road before work, or in the car park outside The Pub at Fiveways on the way home.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it takes place in Round Hill or the middle of Hollingdean, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Withdean or a forecourt in Hollingdean.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many vehicles show which goes in each inlet just there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check as you collect a rental or company car — from London Road (Brighton)'s car park, perhaps — not when the warning comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere across East Sussex, follow this routine.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, motor off, and not in a rush beside Ditchling Place at the roadside.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly using the own spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Hollingdean: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Brief list, then. First: your motor stays unstarted. Keep your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts your fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
Ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the pump if you're on a forecourt — the BP, the Shell or somewhere else. Your own driveway in Hollingdean is the place it should stay.
Already run? Pull over when it's sensible, then switch off. Come off the M23 — under 25 miles out of Hollingdean — at the first junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Hollingdean.
When our engineers turn up around Hollingdean, what takes place?
The van comes to the car anywhere it stopped — your own drive, beside Hollingdean Wholefoods, or by Downs Junior School. What liquid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because the replies decide both work and price. No one heads out until you have heard the quote over the phone.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out unaided. Hence it counts more. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. Next we start it and confirm it runs properly before we leave.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is safe on a live 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. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Hollingdean
Hollingdean is a suburban area situated on the outskirts of Brighton and Hove, with Hollingdean being close to the city centre and the sea. Hollingdean sits at an elevation of 74 metres, overlooking the surrounding areas of Round Hill, Preston, and Moulsecoomb. Hollingdean is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting the area's history of residential development. Hollingdean is also relatively close to London, being approximately 45.9 miles away.
AdBlue drains across East Sussex, Hollingdean included
As a residential suburb, Hollingdean has the same vans as surrounding areas — Preston, Moulsecoomb — right through BN postcodes and the wider area around them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BN1 7.
Your car doesn't need to shift. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to 19a, a lay-by on the way to Blakers Park, a drive. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Saint Matthias.
In short, for Hollingdean motorists
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it stands, anywhere around East Sussex: switch it off then ring 0333 366 0103.