Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lanham Green

Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle

Diesel goes to your motor — but many modern diesels driven round Lanham Green and Perry Green carry a second liquid as well. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.

There's a filler on every tank. Many of vehicles have a single flap for both, while some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. That gap is where the mistake lives.

The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart

A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Hawbush Green or a forecourt around Lanham Green.

• Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
• Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
• A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
• In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
• The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Cressing, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.

What takes place when we turn up in Lanham Green

Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Cressing Primary School, near Village Sign or on your own driveway. The replies decide the work and the quote, so our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — before anything else.

Then that tank is cleared and the system flushed thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts 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 is added, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed as needed. Your engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians head off.

Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after we arrive, as long as your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.