Newton Flotman: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your engine hasn't turned, it's emptied and thoroughly rinsed where the vehicle is around Newton Flotman. Here before the event? Then what follows covers how it happens and how to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many current diesels on the roads about Newton Flotman and Lower Tasburgh carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to fresh them, from its own tank.
There's a filler on each tank. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have the two side by side under one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think what filler it needs. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Newton Flotman
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Saint Mary's Close, or outside Duke of Delhi on the way home after work.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as readily, and after the tip begins, nothing halts it. Whether it happens in Saxlingham Thorpe or the middle of Newton Flotman, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Flordon or a forecourt around Newton Flotman.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it lives if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Wymondham? Check with the person who drove the car last before you set off, not once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere in Norfolk, follow this routine.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, engine stopped, and never rushed beside Ipswich Road at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check again — making sure your diesel filler remained shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip step five entirely.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Newton Flotman already?
Short order, then. First: your motor stays off. Leave your ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the base rather than blending — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or the Shell, ask the staff to help roll your car away from the petrol pump. On your own drive in Newton Flotman? So the car remains put.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M11, over 50 miles from Newton Flotman, that means the next exit. A short hop across Newton Flotman is a smaller job than a run towards Norwich, under 10 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when our engineers turn up around Newton Flotman
The van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, near Anglian Region Theatre School (ARTS), or by Newton Flotman Church of England Primary Academy. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — what liquid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. No one heads out until you have heard the quote over the phone.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. With AdBlue that counts 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. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before leaving, our technicians start the engine and confirm that it's running smoothly.
If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. It's worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Newton Flotman, for a moment
Newton Flotman is a village in Norfolk, situated on the River Tas, with a mix of old and new buildings, including many detached homes. Newton Flotman lies near the cities of Norwich and the surrounding villages of Saxlingham Thorpe and Saxlingham Nethergate. Newton Flotman has a population of around 1418 people and is located about 6 miles from Norwich. Newton Flotman sits at an elevation of 23 metres above sea level, in a low-lying area of the Norfolk countryside.
AdBlue drains round Newton Flotman, and Norfolk beyond
Over NR postcodes, our teams covering Newton Flotman — a village — work the surrounding places too, Saxlingham Nethergate and Foxhole among them. A postcode starting NR15 1 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Alan King Playing Field, a side street close to Newton Flotman Village Sign: our engineers drain the vehicle where it sits. Guessing won't help at the back of Saint Mary, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; phone and ask.
For Newton Flotman drivers, the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Norfolk.