Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mount Pleasant: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done right where your car stands around Mount Pleasant, is normally what it takes when found before the engine runs. Not happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it takes place and the how to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many modern diesels in Church End, as well as Mount Pleasant, run on two fluids; your motor takes just your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs in Mount Pleasant
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Elmsdale Road before work, or in the car park at The Legstraps heading home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and if it is empty, limp mode follows.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire 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 after it has started. It takes seconds, whether out in Bott End or bang in the centre of Mount Pleasant.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these first, on a forecourt in Mount Pleasant or a driveway over in Hall End. A few seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check when you pick up a hire car or fleet car — at Kempston Hardwick's car park, say — not when the light appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, anywhere around Bedfordshire, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Bedford Road, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly 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.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, then look again — making sure your diesel cap stayed shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Leave out step five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Mount Pleasant?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Murco or the BP, ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Mount Pleasant.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Come off the M1 — under 10 miles out of Mount Pleasant — at the first exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Milton Keynes, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Mount Pleasant.
Mount Pleasant: what occurs when we turn up
Our van comes to your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near Wootton Library, or outside Wootton Primary School. Both the work and our price depend on three answers — which fluid, which amount, and if it's run — so we ask. During the call itself, you are told the quote — before dispatch.
Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. The engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Mount Pleasant, briefly
Mount Pleasant is a suburban area in Bedfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of 42 metres, and forms part of the wider area around Milton Keynes. Mount Pleasant lies approximately 10.5 miles from Milton Keynes and 44.4 miles from London, with nearby places including Bott End, Keeley Green, and Wootton. Mount Pleasant has a population of around 2766 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains in Mount Pleasant and across Bedfordshire
Keeley Green and Wootton are among the places around Mount Pleasant, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout MK postcodes. Quickest of all: quote a MK43 9 postcode for the van.
The vehicle remains where it is. The drain happens on the spot, be it a drive, a street by Wootton Methodist Church, or a layby on the way to Hoo Corner. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Wootton Baptist Church, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Mount Pleasant drivers
First, the cap; then, the tip. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep it switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Bedfordshire.