AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Holton: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Pause here for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where your vehicle stands in Holton, is normally what it takes if found before the motor runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds the motor — yet plenty of newer diesels seen round Holton and Broadway hold a second liquid too. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Holton
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Mill Road before work, or in the car park outside Lord Nelson Inn heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the 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, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it occurs in Mells or the middle of Holton, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Blyford or a forecourt around Holton, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Halesworth.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere across Suffolk, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Beccles Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Holton already?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your engine. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is sucked from.
The staff at JET, The Co-operative or another forecourt will usually help pushing your car away when asked. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Holton.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Holton lies over 50 miles from the M11; there, take the first junction. A short hop across Holton is a smaller job than a run towards Norwich, under 25 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Holton: what happens when our technicians arrive
Wherever the car has stopped, whether by Holton St Peter Community Primary School, near Holton Village Sign or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — which fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. 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. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the vehicle. Before leaving, our technicians start the car and make sure that it's running properly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Holton, for a moment
Holton is a small village in Suffolk, situated on the shores of a lake at an elevation of around 13 metres. Holton lies near the towns of Halesworth and Mells, and is approximately 22 miles from Norwich. Holton has a population of around 529 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Holton is also relatively close to Upper Holton, a nearby settlement.
AdBlue drains in Holton and across Suffolk
Being a village, Holton has the same vans as nearby areas — Upper Holton, Halesworth — right across IP postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting IP19 8 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving the vehicle is not necessary. Anywhere it stands — near Holton Windmill, on a lay-by heading to Halesworth Millennium Green, on a drive — that's where it is drained. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Saint Peter's Church? By a border? Checking beats assuming, so ring.
Holton people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the car switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Suffolk.