Lower Willingdon: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop reading for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Lower Willingdon. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that's what many modern diesels near Lower Willingdon and Polegate carry, with diesel for your engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
There's a filler for each tank. Many of cars share a single flap for the two, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Lower Willingdon
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and letting it run out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Coppice Avenue, perhaps at The British Queen on the way home that evening.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where 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, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. It's seconds, whether in Foulride Green or right in the heart of Lower Willingdon.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Filching or a forecourt around Lower Willingdon, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- On plenty of cars, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Polegate, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, wherever across East Sussex, use this routine.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of The Triangle.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Step five is off limits.
Lower Willingdon: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — BP, Esso or any other — the staff will usually help push your car away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Lower Willingdon.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M23, under 50 miles from Lower Willingdon, that means the next junction. A short hop across Lower Willingdon is a smaller job than a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 25 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Lower Willingdon, and what takes place next
Our van reaches your car anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Trinity, or by Willingdon Primary School. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — what fluid, which quantity, and if it has run — so our technicians ask. During the phone call itself, you hear our price — before anything else.
Then your tank is cleared and the system purged thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. Hence it counts more. After the fuel filter is cleaned — or replaced, if needed — clean diesel goes in, and finally your car is tested. The engine is fired up next and checked to make sure it runs properly, all before our engineers go.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run need about half an hour after we are there. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Lower Willingdon and where it is
Lower Willingdon is a village in East Sussex, situated inland at a low elevation of around 14 metres. Lower Willingdon lies near the towns of Willingdon and Wannock, and is approximately 17 miles from the city of Brighton and Hove. Lower Willingdon has a population of around 2343 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Lower Willingdon is also within commuting distance of London, being around 51 miles from the capital.
Lower Willingdon and East Sussex: AdBlue drains across the area
Over BN postcodes, the vans that cover Lower Willingdon — a rural village — work the surrounding spots too, Wannock and Willingdon included. Give a postcode that starts BN20 9, and our van gets there fastest.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. The drain takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a road near Trinity Church Hall, or a lay-by towards Huggets Lane Recreation ground. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Willingdon Library? By a border? Checking beats guessing, and so phone.
The short version for Lower Willingdon people
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it stands, anywhere in East Sussex: keep the car off then call 0333 366 0103.