AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Palmarsh: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Leave your engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Usually, when your motor hasn't turned, it is emptied and fully rinsed where the car is around Palmarsh. Here before the event? In that case what follows covers how it happens and how to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Palmarsh and Botolphs Bridge carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Many of vehicles have a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. It's in the gap that the slip happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Palmarsh?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Oaks View before work, or in the car park outside Prince Of Wales on the way home.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as easily, and once the tip starts, no part stops it. Whether it takes place in Burmarsh or the middle of Palmarsh, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Look at these first, at a forecourt in Palmarsh or a drive over in Orchard Valley. A few seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many cars mark which belongs in which filler just there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Sandling? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, not once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Kent that is.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Palmarsh Avenue.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently through the built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, and check again — making sure your diesel cap stayed closed throughout. Only then, start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Palmarsh?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the JET or the Esso, ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. If you are on your own drive in Palmarsh, leave it where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. Come off the M20 — under 3 miles out of Palmarsh — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Canterbury, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Palmarsh.
When our engineers get there around Palmarsh, what happens?
Outside Palmarsh Primary School, near Palmarsh Village Hall or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. You get that price by phone, before anyone heads out.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing clears away on its own, no matter how long it is left. Once your filter has been flushed — or replaced, if required — clean diesel is added, and finally your car is tested. Before we go, we start the car and make sure that it's running correctly.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of 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 after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Palmarsh
Palmarsh is a small suburban area situated on the coast of Kent, with an elevation of approximately 3 metres above sea level. Palmarsh lies near the villages of Burmarsh and West Hythe, and is within commuting distance of Canterbury, which is around 15 miles away. Palmarsh has a population of around 2273 people, and its housing stock is predominantly semi-detached homes. Palmarsh is also relatively close to London, being around 59 miles from the capital city.
AdBlue drains in Palmarsh and across Kent
Throughout CT postcodes, the teams covering Palmarsh — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, West Hythe and Pennypot included. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting CT21 6.
The car doesn't need to shift. Anywhere it stands — beside Holy Cross, in a lay-by heading to Lympne Castle Grounds, on a drive — that's where it is drained. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Sandtun, ring and ask instead of assuming.
For Palmarsh people, the short version
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it is, anywhere in Kent: keep the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.