AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pitstone: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Pitstone, finding it before your engine runs normally leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it takes place and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels in Greatgap, as well as Pitstone, carry on two fluids; the engine takes only the diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think which cap it needs. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Pitstone?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Haste follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Vicarage Road, or on the way home in the car park outside The Rose and Crown.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second thing: a new vehicle.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour once it has started. It's seconds, whether in Pitstone Green or right in the heart of Pitstone.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Pitstone forecourt or a driveway over in Marsworth, take a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Cheddington.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
On the day the light appears — wherever you are across Buckinghamshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush by Cheddington Road at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, yet it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap never opened off.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Step five stays out.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Pitstone already?
Brief list, then. First: your motor remains off. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Shell, Texaco or any forecourt will usually help pushing the vehicle clear when asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Pitstone.
When the motor has been run already, pull over somewhere safe then turn it off. Leave the M1 — under 10 miles out of Pitstone — at the first junction. A short hop across Pitstone is a smaller job than a run towards St Albans, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
What takes place when our technicians get there around Pitstone
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, be it by Brookmead School, near Pitstone Green Museum or at home, our van comes to it. Those replies determine this work and the quote, so our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is emptied. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out by itself. That is why it matters more. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before we go, we start the engine and make sure that it is running correctly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine hasn't run take about half an hour once our technicians are there. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Pitstone
Pitstone is a village in Buckinghamshire, situated on the banks of the River Icknield Way, at an elevation of around 111 metres. Pitstone lies near the Chiltern Hills, with nearby settlements including Pitstone Green, Church End, and Ivinghoe. Pitstone has a population of approximately 1939 residents, predominantly living in detached housing. Pitstone is located 31.5 miles from London and 14.1 miles from St Albans, making it a rural village with access to larger urban areas.
Pitstone and Buckinghamshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Pitstone is a village, and our teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Church End and Ivinghoe among them, across the LU postcode area. Quickest of all: give a LU7 9 postcode for our van.
The car stays put. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Ivinghoe Library, a lay-by on the way to Pitstone Recreation Ground, a driveway. Assuming won't help behind St Mary's The Virgin Church, Ivinghoe, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
For Pitstone motorists, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, wherever around Buckinghamshire: switch it off and call 0333 366 0103.