Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Newlands
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine hasn't run, it is emptied and fully rinsed where the car is around Newlands. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
No single liquid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels near Newlands and Campbell Park carry, with diesel for the engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
There is a filler for each tank. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place the two side by side behind one flap. Filling the diesel side at the pump happens all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what cap it needs. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Newlands: how it occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Livingstone Drive before work, or in the car park outside Willen Dragon on the way home.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once begun, carries on. Whether it occurs in Willen Lake or the middle of Newlands, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Newlands or a drive over in Fox Milne. A few seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says 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 at Milton Keynes Central.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
For the day the light comes on — wherever you are in Buckinghamshire — a routine to use.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, motor off, and not rushed by Newlands Roundabout on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It works.
- The two behind a single flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel side stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
Discover during the second or third step that the bottle went into the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Do not go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Newlands already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
Ask the attendants to help push the car away from the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Shell, the Esso or anywhere else. On your own drive around Newlands? Then your car remains put.
When your motor has run by now, pull over safely and turn it off. Leave the M1 — under 3 miles out of Newlands — at the next junction. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Newlands is a smaller job than heading under 3 miles towards Milton Keynes — so say roughly how far it went.
What happens when we arrive in Newlands
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Shepherdswell Academy, near Eco Park or on your own drive. The answers decide the work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Draining your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes away on its own, no matter how long it is left. Once the filter has been cleaned — or renewed, where required — clean diesel goes in, and finally the car gets tested. The motor is started next and checked to confirm it runs properly, all before we go.
If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Newlands itself
Newlands is a suburban area in Buckinghamshire, situated on the shores of Willen Lake at an elevation of 67 metres. Newlands is located near the city of Milton Keynes, with Willen Park and the village of Woolstone also in close proximity. Newlands has a population of around 859 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Newlands is also within commuting distance to London, being approximately 45.5 miles away.
AdBlue drains in Newlands and across Buckinghamshire
Over MK postcodes, the teams covering Newlands — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Woolstone and Willen Park among them. A postcode starting MK15 0 gets the van to you fastest.
Your car remains where it is. The drain takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a street by Splash ‘n’ Play, or a layby on the way to the green space at the edge of the village. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Willen Observation Wheel.
For Newlands drivers, the short version
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Buckinghamshire.