Kingsmoor: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out just where the car sits around Kingsmoor, is usually what it takes when caught before your motor runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Many current diesels on the roads round Kingsmoor and Katherines carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There is a filler for each tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at each forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place around Kingsmoor?
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a driveway off Fennells before work, or in the car park at Drinker Moth 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 tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode follows.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as readily, and after the pour starts, nothing halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Kingsmoor or out in Stewards.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Sumners or a forecourt in Kingsmoor, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Harlow Town? Check with the person who drove it last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere in Essex, follow this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside Parndon Wood Road on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your 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.
- Before you start the car, shut the cap and check again 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. Leave out step five entirely.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Kingsmoor?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting the engine. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — BP, Esso or any other — the attendants will usually help push your car clear, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Kingsmoor.
Already started? Pull over when it is sensible, then switch off. On the M11, under 3 miles from Kingsmoor, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Kingsmoor is smaller a job than a run of under 25 miles to Chelmsford, and so tell us.
Our arrival in Kingsmoor, and what takes place next
Wherever your car came to rest, be it outside Milwards Primary School and Nursery, near Kingsmoor Community Church or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Those answers settle the work and the quote, and so our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run. That quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
The system is then cleaned thoroughly, after your tank is drained. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out unaided. That is why it counts more. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Then our technicians start the car and check it runs properly before we go.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Kingsmoor, for a moment
Kingsmoor is a suburban area in Essex, situated inland at an elevation of 72 metres, and is located approximately 18.9 miles from London. Kingsmoor forms part of the wider Chelmsford urban area, with the city centre being around 16.5 miles away. Kingsmoor has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Kingsmoor is close to nearby places such as Stewards, Jacks Hatch, and Great Parndon.
Kingsmoor and Essex: AdBlue drains across the area
Over CM postcodes, the vans covering Kingsmoor — a residential suburb — work the nearby locations too, Great Parndon and Jacks Hatch included. Give a postcode beginning CM19 4, and our van gets there quickest.
The vehicle does not need to move. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to St James with St Luke, Staple Tye, Harlow, a lay-by on the way to Kingsmoor Recreation Ground, a driveway. Tricky to explain, like the back of Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses? By a county line? Checking is better than assuming, so ring.
The short version for Kingsmoor drivers
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Essex, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.