AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hunsdon: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Hunsdon. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one liquid but two: that's how many modern diesels near Hunsdon and Helham Green run, with diesel feeding your engine. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump happens constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. It's in the gap that the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs in Hunsdon
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off High Street before work, or in the car park at The Crown on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, keeps on. It's seconds, be it in Hunsdonbury or right in the heart of Hunsdon.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Gilston Park or a forecourt in Hunsdon, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles mark what goes in each inlet just there.
- The handbook says where it lives if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Roydon, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, anywhere around Hertfordshire, follow this routine.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, motor off, and never in a rush beside Drury Lane on the verge.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Discover at the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Skip step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hunsdon already?
The short order of things, starting with not starting your engine. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Pace, another forecourt nearby or any other — the staff will normally help roll the car clear, if you ask. Your own drive in Hunsdon is the place it stays.
Where the engine has run by now, pull over safely then switch the car off. Hunsdon lies under 10 miles from the M11; there, use the first exit. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Hunsdon is a smaller job than heading under 25 miles to St Albans — so tell us about how far it went.
Hunsdon: what occurs when our engineers turn up
Wherever the car came to rest, whether outside Hunsdon Junior Mixed and Infant School, near Hunsdon Village Hall or at home, our van comes to it. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — what liquid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. That quote is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Then the tank is cleared and the system cleaned 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. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Then our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before leaving.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our technicians arrive, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. 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; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Hunsdon and where it is
Hunsdon is a village in Hertfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of 71 metres, with Hunsdon being close to the nearby settlements of Hunsdonbury, Widford, and Nether Street. Hunsdon has a population of approximately 990 residents, with Hunsdon's housing stock predominantly comprising semi-detached homes. Hunsdon is located near the city of St Albans, about 17 miles away, and Hunsdon is also within commuting distance of London, at around 22 miles from the capital.
Hunsdon and Hertfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Widford and Nether Street are among the towns near Hunsdon, a rural village, that the same teams cover, over SG postcodes. A postcode starting SG12 8 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to move the vehicle. Draining takes place right there, whether a driveway, a street by St Francis Chapel, or a lay-by towards Blocks Wood. Guessing doesn't help behind RAF Hunsdon, on a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
In short, for Hunsdon people
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere around Hertfordshire.