Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ifield
Stop reading a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where your car stands in Ifield, is usually all it needs when found before your engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it takes place and the ways to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads about Ifield and Bewbush carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for every tank. Plenty of motors share a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the error happens.
Ifield: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a drive off Rudgwick Road before work, or in the car park outside Pelham Buckle on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar motor.
No part stops 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. Gossops Green or the middle of Ifield: it is the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Ifield forecourt or a driveway out in Langley Green, spend a couple of seconds on these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook says where it is if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever across West Sussex the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Shipley Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly using the own spout.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
Find during the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Ifield?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the Shell, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. Your own drive around Ifield is the place it should stay.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M23 — under 3 miles out of Ifield — at the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Ifield is less work than a run of under 25 miles towards Brighton and Hove, so say.
When our engineers turn up around Ifield, what takes place?
The van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, near St. Margaret's Church, or by The Mill Primary Academy. What fluid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because those replies set the work and price. You hear that price on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Then that tank is cleared and your system purged thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters 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 flushed or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. Before we go, our technicians start the engine and check that it's running properly.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour job from arrival. The equipment is fine on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Ifield and where it is
Ifield is a suburban area in West Sussex, situated near the River Mole and characterised by its terraced housing. Ifield sits at an elevation of 69 metres, with nearby neighbourhoods including Gossops Green, West Green, and Ifield Green. Ifield is located approximately 27 miles from London and 21 miles from the coast, near the city of Brighton and Hove. Ifield has a population of around 5500 residents.
AdBlue drains around Ifield and across West Sussex
Over RH postcodes, our vans covering Ifield — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Ifield Green and West Green among them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting RH11 0.
No need to move the vehicle. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Ifield Brook Meadows, a side street near Ifield Barn Theatre: our technicians drain the vehicle where it sits. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Elim Church Crawley, on a border, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
Ifield motorists: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, wherever around West Sussex: switch the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.