Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Knowlhill: Why It Happens
Stop reading a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where your car stands around Knowlhill, is normally all it needs if caught before your motor runs. Here before the event? Then what follows covers how it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many modern diesels on the roads around Knowlhill and Loughton carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. It is in the gap that the error lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Knowlhill
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
On a drive off Radian Court before work, or in the car park at Furzton Lake - Hungry Horse on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, carries on. Whether it takes place in Furzton Lake or the middle of Knowlhill, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Knowlhill forecourt or a driveway over in Shenley Church End, spend a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your 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 collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Milton Keynes Central.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Buckinghamshire that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Seebeck Place.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, yet it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly through the own spout.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and check again that the diesel cap never came off.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Never carry on to step five.
Knowlhill: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Don't start your motor: that is where the short order of things begins. Leave the ignition off as well, because on many diesels switching it on by itself starts your fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the base rather than mixing — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Shell, Texaco or any forecourt will normally help to push the vehicle away if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Knowlhill.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. On the M1, under 5 miles from Knowlhill, that means the next junction. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Knowlhill makes a smaller job than driving under 3 miles towards Milton Keynes — so say roughly how far it went.
What takes place when our technicians turn up in Knowlhill
Our van comes to the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own drive, beside Gambado, or outside Glastonbury Thorn School. Those answers settle the work and the quote, and so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it's run. Nobody sets off before you've heard the price over the phone.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away unaided. That is why it counts more. Filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your vehicle. We don't go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. It is worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Knowlhill and where it is
Knowlhill is a suburban area located near Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, sitting at an elevation of 87 metres in the inland countryside of the South East region. Knowlhill is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is situated close to notable local landmarks such as Furzton Lake and Winterhill. Knowlhill has a population of around 1311 residents and is approximately 1.5 miles from the centre of Milton Keynes. Knowlhill is also near Shenley Lodge, another local area of interest.
AdBlue drains across Buckinghamshire, Knowlhill included
Winterhill and Shenley Lodge are among the towns near Knowlhill, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout MK postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting MK5 8.
The car remains put. Anywhere it sits — near Kidsplay Activity Land, in a layby en route to South Loughton Valley Park, on a drive — that's where it is cleared. Assuming won't help at the back of Shenley Lodge Meeting Place, on a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
The short version for Knowlhill drivers
Always, the cap; then, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Buckinghamshire.