Knatts Valley: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Knatts Valley, catching it before the engine turns usually means a drain and a full flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Below, the page covers the why it happens and the how to avoid it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Not one liquid but two: that's how many modern diesels near Knatts Valley and Romney Street carry, with diesel for your motor. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think which filler it needs. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Knatts Valley?
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from your car, and running out means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Knatts Valley Road, or at The Gamecock on the way home that evening.
New-to-you vehicles are next, too. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
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 after it has started. Whether it happens in Knockmill or the middle of Knatts Valley, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in West Kingsdown or a forecourt in Knatts Valley, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On many motors, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Kemsing.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere across Kent, follow this routine.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, motor off, and never in a rush by Knatts Lane at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The two behind a single flap? Then make sure the lid on your diesel side is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once the tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, pour gently using the own spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Knatts Valley?
Don't start your engine: that is how the short order of things begins. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, right where fuel is taken from.
At a forecourt — Texaco, Gulf or another — the staff will usually help push the car clear, when you ask. Your own drive around Knatts Valley is the place it stays.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Leave the M20 — under 3 miles out of Knatts Valley — at the next exit. A short hop across Knatts Valley is a smaller job than a run towards London, under 25 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When we get there around Knatts Valley, what occurs?
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St. Edmund's Church of England Primary School, near West Kingsdown Village Hall or on your own driveway. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — what liquid, which amount, and whether it's run — so we ask. You get that price on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before leaving, our technicians start it and confirm that it is running smoothly.
If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Knatts Valley itself
Knatts Valley is a small suburban area in Kent, situated inland at an elevation of 117 metres, and is located approximately 20 miles from London. Knatts Valley is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is surrounded by nearby places such as Knockmill, East Hill, and Woodlands. Knatts Valley has a relatively small population of around 515 residents, and its proximity to London makes it a commuter-friendly location.
AdBlue drains in Knatts Valley and across Kent
East Hill and Woodlands are among the towns near Knatts Valley, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over TN postcodes. Fastest of all: give a TN15 6 postcode for the van.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. The drain happens on the spot, be it a drive, a road by West Kingsdown Library, or a layby towards Stacklands Wood. Guessing doesn't help at the back of John Fordham Memorial, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
For Knatts Valley drivers, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Kent, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.