Layer-de-la-Haye: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Layer-de-la-Haye. Not happened yet? Below, the page covers the why it takes place and the how to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels around Layer-de-la-Haye and Birch run, with diesel for your engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Plenty of cars have a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think which cap it needs. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Layer-de-la-Haye: how it occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off The Heath, or on the way home in the car park outside Donkey and Buskins.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Rentals, new motors and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Third, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as easily, and once the tip starts, nothing stops it. Whether it takes place in Malting Green or the middle of Layer-de-la-Haye, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Layer-de-la-Haye forecourt or a driveway over in Birch Green, take a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On many motors, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it is 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 Colchester Town.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever it is across Essex — a routine to follow.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of New Cut.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and look again that your diesel cap was never came off.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Layer-de-la-Haye?
Do not start your engine: that's where the short order of things starts. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Texaco or the East of England Coop, ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the petrol pump. Your own driveway around Layer-de-la-Haye is the place it stays.
Already run? Pull over once it's sensible, then switch off. Leave the M11 — under 50 miles out of Layer-de-la-Haye — at the first exit. A short hop across Layer-de-la-Haye is a smaller job than a run towards Colchester, under 5 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when we turn up in Layer-de-la-Haye
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Layer-de-la-Haye Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, close to Layer Village Hall or on your own drive. Both the work and our quote rest on three answers — what fluid, which amount, and whether it's run — so we ask. During the phone call itself, you hear the quote — ahead of anything else.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, certain metals corrode, and nothing clears away unaided, no matter how long it sits. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; then a check of the car. Before we go, our technicians fire it up and confirm that it's running smoothly.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine has not run need about half an hour once our engineers arrive. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Layer-de-la-Haye itself
Layer-de-la-Haye is a village situated on the banks of the River Colne in Essex, with a mix of detached housing and rural landscapes. Layer-de-la-Haye lies approximately 3 miles from Colchester and 48 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Layer-de-la-Haye has a population of around 891 residents and is surrounded by nearby places such as Malting Green and Shrub End. Layer-de-la-Haye's riverside setting provides scenic views and outdoor recreational opportunities.
AdBlue drains about Layer-de-la-Haye, and Essex beyond
Over CO postcodes, the vans that cover Layer-de-la-Haye — a village — work the surrounding locations too, Heckfordbridge and Shrub End among them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting CO2 0.
The vehicle doesn't need to shift. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Layer de la Haye Village Sign, a lay-by on the way to Charity Wood, a driveway. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St John the Baptist, Layer De La Haye, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Layer-de-la-Haye people: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere across Essex.