AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mount Pleasant: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Leave the engine and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the vehicle sits in Mount Pleasant, is normally all it takes if caught before your engine runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads round Mount Pleasant and Norton carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on every filling station visit, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is filled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
Mount Pleasant: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and running out leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Avis Road, or at Brewers Fayre on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar motors come second, as well. Rentals, new vehicles and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as easily, and after the tip starts, nothing halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Mount Pleasant or out in Denton.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Mount Pleasant forecourt or a driveway out in Tarring Neville, take a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to the diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Newhaven Town.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the light appears — anywhere you are across East Sussex — a simple routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Station Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Both under a single flap? Then make sure the cap on the diesel side is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Stop when the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently through its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip step five altogether.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Mount Pleasant?
Do not start the engine: that is how the short order of things starts. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, right where fuel is taken from.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Sainsbury's, the Texaco or somewhere else. Your own drive around Mount Pleasant is where it stays.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M23, under 25 miles from Mount Pleasant, that means the next exit. A short hop across Mount Pleasant is a smaller job than a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 10 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Mount Pleasant, and what occurs next
Wherever your car came to rest, whether by Denton Community Primary School and Nursery, beside St Leonard's or at home, our van comes to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, because those answers determine the work and our price. Nobody sets off until you've heard our quote over the phone.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, after your tank is drained. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of your vehicle. The engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before we go.
Using pumps safe 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 our technicians arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Mount Pleasant and where it is
Mount Pleasant is a coastal suburban area in East Sussex, situated near the town of Newhaven and the city of Brighton and Hove. Mount Pleasant has a low elevation of around 4 metres, reflecting its proximity to the sea. Mount Pleasant is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock, which is typical of many suburban areas in the South East of England. Mount Pleasant is also close to nearby places such as Denton and South Heighton.
AdBlue drains in Mount Pleasant and across East Sussex
Being a residential suburb, Mount Pleasant has the same vans as nearby places — South Heighton, Newhaven — right through BN postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quickest of all: quote a BN9 0 postcode to our van.
The vehicle stays put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Drove Park, a side street close to The Original Factory Shop: our engineers drain the vehicle where it stands. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Paradise Park? Close to a border? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
Mount Pleasant drivers: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, wherever around East Sussex: switch the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.