AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Kents Hill: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Leave the engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Around Kents Hill, finding it before your motor runs usually means a drain and a full flush on the spot. Reading in advance? In that case the rest explains how it happens and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that's how many newer diesels near Kents Hill and Wavendon Gate carry, with diesel for your engine. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to fresh them, from its own tank.
There's a filler on each 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. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
Kents Hill: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
On a drive off Birdlip Lane before work, or in the car park at The Tawny Owl heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
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 happens in Walnut Tree or the middle of Kents Hill, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Kents Hill forecourt or a drive over in Brinklow, spend a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On many vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Bow Brickhill, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Buckinghamshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Goldilocks, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Finish once your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently using the own spout.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never carry on to stage five.
Kents Hill: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Don't start the engine: that is how the short order of things starts. Keep your ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it by itself runs your fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that's where your fuel is sucked from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Tesco or the BP, ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump. On your own drive in Kents Hill? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. Kents Hill lies under 3 miles from the M1; on it, use the next exit. Distance matters — a short hop across Kents Hill is a smaller job than driving under 3 miles towards Milton Keynes — so say about how far it went.
Kents Hill: what takes place when our engineers arrive
Our van comes to the car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, near Church of Christ the King, or by Heronshill School and Nursery. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run, since the replies determine this work and our price. You get that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the fuel system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. Hence it matters more. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we leave, we fire it up and make sure that it's running properly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run take about half an hour after we are there. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Kents Hill
Kents Hill is a suburban area in Buckinghamshire, situated near the city of Milton Keynes and approximately 43 miles from London. Kents Hill sits at an elevation of around 74 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Kents Hill is located close to nearby places such as Walnut Tree, Walton Manor, and Walton Hall, and has a population of around 4727 residents.
AdBlue drains across Buckinghamshire, Kents Hill included
Over MK postcodes, our vans covering Kents Hill — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Walton Hall and Walton Manor included. Give a postcode that starts MK7 6, and our van arrives fastest.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. We drain it where it is — a side street near Boy and Girl, a lay-by on the way to Studley Knapp Play Area, a drive. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Snail, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Kents Hill motorists
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere in Buckinghamshire.