Riverhead: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop here for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Riverhead. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels on the roads round Riverhead and St Johns carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has one filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Riverhead: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Chesterfield Drive before work, or in the car park at Bullfinch on the way home.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have 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, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Longford or the heart of Riverhead: it is the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt around Riverhead or a driveway over in Dunton Green. Seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- On many vehicles, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of cars show what goes in which inlet right there.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Dunton Green? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere around Kent the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, motor stopped, and not rushed by Bullfinch Lane on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Stage five is off limits.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Riverhead?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Leave your ignition off as well, because on many diesels switching it on alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Tesco, another forecourt nearby or another — the attendants will usually help roll the car away, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Riverhead.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next junction is where to come off if you're on the M26, under a mile from Riverhead. About how far did it go? Crossing Riverhead is smaller work than a run of under 25 miles towards London, so say.
When our engineers turn up around Riverhead, what happens?
Our van comes to the car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near Riverhead Library, or outside Riverhead Infants' School. Those replies decide this work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the fuel filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Next we fire it up and make sure it runs properly before leaving.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Riverhead itself
Riverhead is a suburban area in Kent, situated lakeside with a mix of housing types, predominantly detached homes. Riverhead sits at an elevation of 78 metres, close to the nearby places of Longford, Chipstead, and Bessels Green. Riverhead is located approximately 19.9 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly area. Riverhead has a population of around 4654 residents, living in a variety of detached homes.
Riverhead and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
Riverhead is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places around it, Chipstead and Bessels Green among them, across the TN postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting TN13 2.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Sandpits, a side street close to St. Mary The Virgin: we drain the vehicle where it stands. Guessing won't help behind Riverhead Village Hall, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
The short version for Riverhead motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave it off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Kent.