Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Rottingdean: Why It Happens
Leave the motor and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Caught before the motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Rottingdean. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
No single liquid but two: that's how many newer diesels around Rottingdean and Roedean run, with diesel feeding the motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have both side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Rottingdean: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry comes from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Steyning Road, or heading home in the car park at The Black Horse.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Rentals, new motors and company vehicles place their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, carries on. Saltdean or the heart of Rottingdean: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Rottingdean forecourt or a drive over in Telscombe Cliffs, take a few seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Moulsecoomb.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever across East Sussex the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Nevill Road.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've found your filler and read it.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm the diesel filler remained shut throughout. After that, start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Rottingdean already?
Do not start the engine: that is where the short order of things starts. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than mixing — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Texaco, the Asda or anywhere else. At home around Rottingdean? So your car remains put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. The next junction means where to come off if you are on the M23, under 25 miles from Rottingdean. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Rottingdean.
What happens when we arrive around Rottingdean
By Our Lady of Lourdes RC School, close to Sir William and Mabel Pryde Nicholson or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Those answers settle this work and the quote, so we ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. The price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then that tank is drained and your system cleaned thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of that washes out on its own, however long it is left. After your filter is cleaned — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally your car gets tested. Before leaving, our technicians start the engine and make sure that it is running properly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine has not run need about half an hour once our technicians are there. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Rottingdean, briefly
Rottingdean is a coastal suburban area in East Sussex, situated approximately 3.9 miles east of Brighton and Hove. Rottingdean sits at an elevation of around 17 metres, overlooking the English Channel. Rottingdean is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, with nearby places including Saltdean, East Saltdean, and Ovingdean. Rottingdean has a population of around 2332 residents.
AdBlue drains about Rottingdean, and East Sussex beyond
East Saltdean and Ovingdean are among the towns around Rottingdean, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over BN postcodes. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BN2 7.
Your car stays where it is. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to St Aubyn's Field, a side street close to Rottingdean Museum: we drain it where it stands. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Rottingdean Library, close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and check.
The short version for Rottingdean drivers
First, the cap; after that, the tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across East Sussex.