Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lindfield
Leave the motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the motor runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Lindfield. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels in Haywards Heath, as well as Lindfield, carry on two liquids; the engine gets just your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Lindfield?
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and running out leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off High Street, or at The Stand Up Inn on the way home after work.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Nothing stops the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes seconds, be it in Walstead or bang in the centre of Lindfield.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Bolnore or a forecourt around Lindfield, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show which belongs in which filler just there.
- The handbook says which it is when your filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Haywards Heath, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Wherever in West Sussex the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Black Hill.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Lindfield: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Short order, then. Top of that: your engine remains off. Do not 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 that tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — Texaco, Shell or any other — the staff will usually help push the car clear, when you ask. At home around Lindfield? So your car stays where it is.
When your motor has run by now, stop safely and turn the car off. On the M23, under 10 miles from Lindfield, that means the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Lindfield.
When our engineers get there around Lindfield, what occurs?
Our van comes to the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Evangelical Free Church, or outside Lindfield Primary Academy. The replies determine the work and the price, so we ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. Nobody heads out before you have had the price over the phone.
The system is then cleaned thoroughly, after the tank is drained. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of it clears away unaided, however long it is left. After the filter is cleaned — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel is added, and then your car is tested. The motor is started next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians head off.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we arrive, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Lindfield and where it is
Lindfield is a suburban area in West Sussex, situated on the banks of the River Ouse at an elevation of around 43 metres. Lindfield lies approximately 34 miles south of London and 13 miles north of Brighton and Hove, within a network of nearby settlements including Walstead, Franklands Village, and Lyoth Common. Lindfield is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock and a population of around 4744 residents. Lindfield's riverside setting contributes to its scenic environment.
AdBlue drains across West Sussex, Lindfield included
Lindfield is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places around it, Franklands Village and Lyoth Common among them, across the RH postcode area. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting RH16 2.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Wherever it stands — beside Lindfield URC, in a lay-by en route to Lindfield Common, on a drive — that is where it gets drained. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of All Saints.
Lindfield motorists: the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it is, wherever in West Sussex: keep it off then call 0333 366 0103.