North Lancing: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around North Lancing. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels in South Lancing, as well as North Lancing, carry on two fluids; your engine gets only your diesel. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh it, from a separate tank.
There's a filler for each tank. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have the two together behind one flap. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around North Lancing: how it occurs
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
Hurry comes from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Mill Road, or on the way home in the car park outside The Crabtree Inn.
New-to-you motors are next, too. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
Nothing stops the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of North Lancing or out in Lancing.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Lower Cokeham or a forecourt around North Lancing, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles show what goes in which filler just there.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel inlet? Then check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say where.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Lancing, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere across West Sussex, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of First Avenue, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Never go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in North Lancing already?
Brief list, then. First: your motor stays off. Leave the ignition off as well, since on many diesels switching it on by itself runs your fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — BP, Shell or another — the attendants will usually help roll the car away, when you ask. If you are on your own drive in North Lancing, leave the vehicle where it sits.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M23, under 25 miles from North Lancing, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across North Lancing is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles towards Brighton and Hove, and so tell us.
Our arrival around North Lancing, and what takes place next
Our van comes to your car wherever it stopped — your own drive, beside St James the Less, or by North Lancing Primary School. Both the work and the price rest on three replies — which liquid, which amount, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. During the phone call itself, you are told our price — before anything else.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once your tank is emptied. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and none of that washes away unaided, no matter how long it is left. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of the car. The motor is started next and tested to make sure it runs smoothly, all before we go.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run take 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. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About North Lancing itself
North Lancing is a suburban area situated on the coast of West Sussex, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. North Lancing lies close to the nearby towns of Lancing and Sompting, and is approximately 7.8 miles west of Brighton and Hove. North Lancing has a population of around 5243 people and is located at an elevation of 17 metres above sea level. North Lancing is part of the wider South East region, within commuting distance of London at 47 miles away.
North Lancing and West Sussex: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout BN postcodes, our teams covering North Lancing — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Sompting and Upper Cokeham included. A postcode starting BN15 0 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to move the vehicle. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Lancing Manor Park, a side street near Lancing Manor Leisure Centre: our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of North Lancing Fairy Tree.
North Lancing drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across West Sussex.