Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in New England: Why It Occurs
Keep your engine and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. In New England, finding it before your motor turns usually means a drain and a full flush where it stands. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels around Westwood, like those in New England, carry on two liquids; your engine gets just the diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place the two together behind one flap. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. It is in that gap that the slip happens.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in New England: how it happens
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Brassey Close, or on the way home in the car park at The Lime Tree.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
No part stops the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, whether out in Millfield or bang in the centre of New England.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a New England forecourt or a driveway out in Ravensthorpe, take a couple of seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many motors show what belongs in which inlet right there.
- Can't see it next to your diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you pick up a hire car or company car — from Peterborough's car park, perhaps — rather than once the light appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
For the day the light appears — anywhere it is in Cambridgeshire — a routine to follow.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Thistlemoor Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in New England already?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting your engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — Morrisons, Texaco or any other — the attendants will normally help push your car away, if you ask. If you are on your own driveway in New England, leave it where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. On the A1(M), under 5 miles from New England, that means the next exit. A short hop across New England is a smaller job than a run towards Peterborough, under 3 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
New England: what occurs when we turn up
The van comes to the vehicle wherever it stopped — your own drive, near Spire, or outside Fulbridge Academy. The answers determine the work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. You get that price by phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals form, some metals are attacked, and none of that clears out unaided, however long it sits. Once the filter is flushed — or renewed, where needed — clean diesel is added, and finally your car gets tested. Next we start the engine and make sure it runs smoothly before we go.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About New England itself
New England is a suburban area located near Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, sitting at an elevation of 17 metres in the inland landscape of Eastern England. New England is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock and is situated close to nearby places such as Millfield, Paston, and Walton. New England has a population of approximately 7038 residents and is within a short distance of Peterborough city centre, at 1.6 miles away. New England is also about 75.3 miles from London, making it a commuter base for those working in the capital.
AdBlue drains across Cambridgeshire, New England included
Throughout PE postcodes, the teams that cover New England — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Walton and Paston included. A postcode starting PE1 2 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to move your car. The drain happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a road near St Paul's Church, or a layby towards Rock Park. Tricky to explain, like the back of The Salvation Army? By a border? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
For New England drivers, the short version
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere around Cambridgeshire.