AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Leverington: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. In Leverington, finding it before the motor turns usually leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it happens and the ways to prevent it altogether.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels around Gorefield, as well as Leverington, run on two fluids; the motor gets just the diesel. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to fresh it, from its own tank.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place the two side by side under one flap. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt visit, again and again. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It's in that gap that the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Leverington?
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Perry Road, or at Six Ringers on the way home that evening.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
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 pour after it has started. Whether it takes place in Leverington Common or the middle of Leverington, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Leverington forecourt or a drive over in West Walton, spend a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you pick up a hire car or company car — at March's car park, perhaps — not once the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere across Cambridgeshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Church End, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Do not go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Leverington?
Short list, then. Top of that: your motor stays unstarted. Leave your ignition off too, since on many diesels switching it on by itself starts the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, BP or another — the attendants will normally help push your car away, if you ask. On your own drive around Leverington? Then the car stays put.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next exit means the place to come off when you are on the A1(M), under 25 miles from Leverington. About how far did it go? Crossing Leverington is smaller work than a trip of under 25 miles towards Peterborough, and so tell us.
Our arrival around Leverington, and what occurs next
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, whether outside Leverington Primary Academy, near Leverington Village Sign or at home, the van comes to it. Those answers settle the work and the price, so we ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it's run. Nobody heads out before you've had our price over the phone.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before leaving, we start the car and check that it's running properly.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Leverington
Leverington is a small village in Cambridgeshire, situated in the eastern part of the county, with Leverington Common nearby. Leverington lies close to the town of Wisbech and the village of Fitton End, and is approximately 17.6 miles from Peterborough. Leverington has a population of around 1058 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Leverington is a low-lying village, with an elevation of around 3 metres above sea level.
Leverington and Cambridgeshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Leverington is a rural village, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Fitton End and Wisbech among them, across the PE postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a PE13 5 postcode to our van.
There's no need to shift the car. The drain takes place on the spot, whether a driveway, a road near St Leonard (Leverington Parish Church), or a layby on the way to Foal Ground. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Leverington Village Hall, ring and ask instead of guessing.
In short, for Leverington motorists
Pour nothing till you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Cambridgeshire.