Melton Constable: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave the engine and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where your vehicle stands in Melton Constable, is normally what it takes when caught before your motor runs. Reading before the event? Then the rest explains why it comes about and how to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels on the roads round Melton Constable and Stody carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Melton Constable: how it occurs
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Grove Road, or heading home in the car park at the pub in the village.
New-to-you cars come second, as well. Hire cars, new cars and company motors place their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. Burgh Stubbs or the heart of Melton Constable: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Craymere Beck or a forecourt around Melton Constable, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it lives when your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Sheringham? Ask whoever drove the car last before leaving, not once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Norfolk that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Burgh Beck Road.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located the filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Finish once the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour slowly through the own spout.
- Shut the cap, then check again — making sure your diesel cap remained shut the whole time. After that, start your car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Skip step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Melton Constable?
Short list, then. First: your motor remains unstarted. Keep your ignition off too, because on many diesels it 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 is the the nearest petrol station or the bp, ask the attendants to help push the vehicle away from the pump. At home around Melton Constable? So your car remains put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction means the place to come off if you're on the M11, over 50 miles from Melton Constable. Mileage matters — a short hop across Melton Constable makes a smaller job than heading under 25 miles towards Norwich — so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians arrive around Melton Constable, what occurs?
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Astley Primary School, close to Melton Constable Village Sign or on your own drive. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — what fluid, which amount, and if it's run — so we ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals corrode, and nothing clears away unaided, however long it is left. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs properly, all before we head off.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Melton Constable and where it is
Melton Constable is a village in north Norfolk, situated inland at an elevation of 71 metres, with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. Melton Constable lies near several smaller settlements, including Burgh Stubbs, Briningham, and Briston, and is approximately 19 miles from the city of Norwich. Melton Constable has a population of around 894 people, and is located about 105 miles from London. Melton Constable remains a small, rural community with a strong sense of local identity.
Melton Constable and Norfolk: AdBlue drains across the area
Melton Constable is a rural village, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, Briningham and Briston among them, across the NR postcode area. Quickest of all: give a NR24 2 postcode for the van.
The vehicle remains where it is. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Melton Constable Welcome Sign, a lay-by on the way to Oakhills Plantation, a driveway. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Melton Constable - A Railway Village.
The short version for Melton Constable motorists
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Norfolk, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.