How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Northdown
Pause reading a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Northdown. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds your motor — yet many modern diesels seen round Northdown and St Peters carry another fluid too. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, again and again. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. It's in the gap that the error happens.
Northdown: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Millmead Road, perhaps at The Wheatsheaf on the way home after work.
New-to-you motors are second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company vehicles put their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Cliftonville or the middle of Northdown: it takes the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Northdown forecourt or a drive out in Bromstone, take a couple of seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- On many motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Broadstairs? Ask the person who drove the car last before leaving, not once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever around Kent, follow this routine.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside Millmead Gardens at the roadside.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you've located your filler and read it.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both share a flap, make sure it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, and look once more — confirm your diesel filler remained closed the whole time. After that, start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five stays off limits.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Northdown?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The attendants at Shell, Gulf or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push your car away when you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Northdown.
When your motor has run by now, stop safely then switch it off. The next junction means the place to leave if you are on the M2, under 25 miles from Northdown. A short hop across Northdown is a smaller job than a run towards Canterbury, under 25 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our engineers arrive in Northdown, what takes place?
The van reaches the car wherever it stopped — your own drive, near Trinity Community Resource Centre, or by Northdown Primary School. Which liquid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since those replies decide the work and price. You get that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
The fuel system is then rinsed thoroughly, after your tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. Hence it matters more. After the fuel filter is cleaned — or replaced, if required — fresh diesel is added, and then your vehicle gets tested. The motor is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before we go.
If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Northdown itself
Northdown is a suburban area in Kent, situated on the coast near the towns of Cliftonville and Kingsgate. Northdown has a population of around 4977 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Northdown sits at an elevation of 45 metres, looking out over the coastal scenery of the South East. Northdown is located near the village of Reading Street and is within commuting distance of Canterbury, which is 16 miles away.
AdBlue drains round Northdown, and Kent beyond
Throughout CT postcodes, our vans that cover Northdown — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Kingsgate and Reading Street among them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting CT9 3.
There's no need to move your car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Holy Trinity, a lay-by on the way to Northdown Park, a drive. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Cliftonville Public Library, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In short, for Northdown drivers
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Kent, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.