AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mile Town: How It Happens and How to Stop It
Stop here for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Mile Town. Here in advance? Then what follows explains why it happens and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of current diesels on the roads around Mile Town and Blue Town carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There's a filler for each tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Topping up the diesel side at the pump happens constantly. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. That gap is where the slip lives.
Mile Town: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off First Avenue before work, or in the car park at The Pilots' Rest Pub on the way home.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — since a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
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. It's a few seconds, be it out in Sheerness or bang in the heart of Mile Town.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Mile Town forecourt or a driveway over in Halfway Houses, spend a few seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles show which goes in which filler right there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Sheerness-On-Sea? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever across Kent, follow this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Botany Close.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — after you've found your filler and read it.
- Both under one flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel side stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Mile Town?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Keep the ignition off as well, because on many diesels switching it on alone runs your fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Tesco, Shell or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing your car clear if asked. Your own driveway around Mile Town is the place it stays.
Already run? Stop when it's sensible, then turn off. Mile Town sits under 10 miles from the M2; there, take the first junction. Distance counts — a short hop across Mile Town makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Southend-on-Sea — so say about how far it went.
When we get there in Mile Town, what happens?
By Rose Street Primary School, near The Salvation Army or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Which liquid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since the replies decide both work and price. Nobody heads out before you have had our price over the phone.
Then the tank is emptied and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears out by itself. That is why it counts more. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or replaced as needed. Before we leave, we fire it up and make sure that it is running correctly.
If your motor 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 upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Mile Town
Mile Town is a coastal suburban area in Kent, situated near the mouth of the Thames estuary at a low elevation of around 2 metres. Mile Town lies within commuting distance of London, approximately 38.6 miles to the west, and is close to the nearby city of Southend-on-Sea. Mile Town is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting its development as a residential area.
Mile Town and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout ME postcodes, our vans covering Mile Town — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, West Minster and Marine Town among them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting ME12 1.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Vincent Gardens, a side street close to The Church in Hope Street: we drain the car where it stands. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Strode Crescent Baptist Church? By a county line? Asking beats guessing, and so ring.
Mile Town motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it is, wherever around Kent: switch the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.