How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Newick
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. In Newick, catching it before your motor runs usually leaves draining and a thorough flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads around Newick and Grisling Common carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from a separate tank.
Every tank has a filler of its own. Many of vehicles share a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Newick?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off High Street before work, or in the car park at The Bull heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and once the tip starts, nothing stops it. It's seconds, whether in Fletching Common or bang in the heart of Newick.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Sharpsbridge or a forecourt in Newick.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Uckfield, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever across East Sussex the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush by Marbles Road on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, make sure it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Finish when that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently using its built-in spout.
- Before you start your car, shut the cap and look again that your diesel cap never opened off.
Find at the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Never go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Newick?
Do not start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Texaco, Shell or another — the attendants will usually help push the car clear, when you ask. Your own drive around Newick is where it should stay.
Already run? Stop when it's sensible, then turn off. Leave the M23 — under 15 miles out of Newick — at the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Newick.
When we arrive around Newick, what takes place?
Our van reaches the car anywhere it stopped — your own drive, near Newick Community Centre, or by Newick Church of England Primary School. Those replies settle this work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. During the phone call itself, you are told our quote — before dispatch.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, after the 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 doesn't wash out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The motor is started next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers head off.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine has not run take about half an hour after our technicians are there. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Newick, briefly
Newick is a village in East Sussex, situated inland at an elevation of 37 metres, approximately 12.6 miles from Brighton and Hove. Newick is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock and is surrounded by nearby places such as Fletching Common and Cornwells Bank. Newick has a population of around 1253 residents and is located within the South East region, about 37.4 miles from London.
AdBlue drains round Newick, and East Sussex beyond
Founthill and Cornwells Bank are among the towns around Newick, a rural village, that the same teams cover, throughout BN postcodes. A postcode starting BN8 4 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. Draining happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a road near Newick Village Hall, or a lay-by towards King George V Playing Field. Assuming doesn't help behind St Mary Newick, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
The short version for Newick drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it stands, wherever around East Sussex: keep the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.