Ingrave: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the engine has not turned, it's emptied and thoroughly rinsed where the vehicle sits in Ingrave. Reading before the event? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels in Hutton, like those in Ingrave, run on two liquids; the engine gets only your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Other vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both side by side behind one flap. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
Ingrave: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off St Nicholas Grove before work, or in the car park outside The Green Man on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode follows.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
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 takes place in Herongate or the middle of Ingrave, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Whether a Ingrave forecourt or a driveway out in Shenfield, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Brentwood, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere around Essex the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Brentwood Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, confirm it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly using its built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Leave out step five altogether.
Ingrave: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Do not start the engine: that's where the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the BP or the Shell, ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the petrol pump. Your own drive in Ingrave is where it stays.
Where the engine has run by now, stop safely then switch the car off. Ingrave lies under 5 miles from the M25; there, use the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Chelmsford, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Ingrave.
Ingrave: what occurs when our technicians turn up
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Ingrave Johnstone Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, close to St. Nicholas, Ingrave or on your own driveway. What liquid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask because those answers decide the work and quote. No one heads out before you've heard our quote by phone.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, after your tank is emptied. 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 doesn't wash out on its own. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Before we go, our technicians start it and confirm that it is running smoothly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our engineers arrive, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Ingrave itself
Ingrave is a village in Essex, situated inland at an elevation of around 89 metres, approximately 21 miles from London. Ingrave lies near the villages of Herongate, Hutton Mount, and Childerditch, and is about 11 miles from Chelmsford. Ingrave has a population of around 1175 people, predominantly living in semi-detached houses. Ingrave remains a relatively small community with a rural character.
AdBlue drains around Ingrave, and Essex beyond
Ingrave is a rural village, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Hutton Mount and Childerditch among them, across the CM postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting CM13 3.
The car doesn't need to shift. Wherever it stands — near Site of St. Nicolas's Church, in a layby heading to Thorndon Park Golf Club, at home — that is where it gets cleared. Guessing doesn't help at the back of St Andrew's Methodist, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
The short version for Ingrave motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across Essex, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.