Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Northend
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, leave your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Northend. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Not one liquid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels near Northend and Stoneyhills carry, with diesel feeding the motor. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from its own tank.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have both together behind one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It's in that gap that the error happens.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Northend: how it happens
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the vehicle, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Sheepcotes Lane, perhaps at The White Horse on the way home after work.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as readily, and after the pour begins, nothing halts it. Whether it happens in Southminster or the middle of Northend, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Northend forecourt or a drive out in Dengie, spend a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show what belongs in which filler just there.
- The handbook shows which it is if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Southminster? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, wherever around Essex, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of North End, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but 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.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and look again — confirm your diesel cap remained shut throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Northend already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, just where fuel is taken from.
The staff at Woodfords Garage, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing your car clear if asked. Your own driveway in Northend is the place it stays.
Where the engine has run by now, pull over safely then turn it off. On the M2, under 25 miles from Northend, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Northend is smaller a job than a run of under 15 miles to Southend-on-Sea, so say.
When our engineers get there around Northend, what occurs?
Anywhere the car has stopped, whether outside St Leonard's Church of England Primary School, beside Southminster Libary or on your own drive, our van comes to it. The replies settle this work and the price, and so we ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. Nobody heads out before you have heard our quote by phone.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, some metals are attacked, and none of that washes away unaided, however long it sits. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We do not leave until it has been started and is running properly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our engineers get there, as long as the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About Northend, for a moment
Northend is a suburban area in Essex, situated approximately 42.6 miles from London and 10 miles from the city of Southend-on-Sea. Northend lies inland, with an elevation of around 27 metres, and is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Northend is located near other small settlements such as Southminster, Cripplegate, and Asheldham, and has a population of around 3295 residents.
Northend and Essex: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Northend shares its vans surrounding places — Cripplegate, Asheldham — right across CM postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Fastest of all: quote a CM0 7 postcode for the van.
Your car stays where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to King George V Memorial Field, a side street near Christ Church United Reformed Church: our engineers drain the vehicle where it stands. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Southminster Memorial Hall? By a border? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
The short version for Northend people
Always, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere across Essex.