Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Roydon
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Around Roydon, catching it before your engine turns normally means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many modern diesels around Pinnacles, as well as Roydon, run on two liquids; the engine gets just your diesel. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
There's a filler for each tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Roydon
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off High Street, or at The White Hart on the way home that evening.
New-to-you motors come next, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it 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 tip after it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Roydon or out in Eastend.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt in Roydon or a drive over in Roydon Hamlet. A few seconds, that's all.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On plenty of cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at the nearest station? Ask whoever drove the car last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere in Essex the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and never rushed by Farm Close at the roadside.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- Leave your 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 is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Leave out stage five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Roydon?
Short order, then. Top of that: your motor stays unstarted. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Texaco or the Esso, ask the staff to help push the car away from the petrol pump. On your own drive around Roydon? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit means the place to come off when you are on the M11, under 5 miles from Roydon. Mileage counts — a short hop across Roydon is a smaller job than heading under 25 miles towards St Albans — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Roydon: what takes place when our technicians turn up
Wherever your car came to rest, whether by Roydon Primary Academy, near War Memorial or at home, our van comes to it. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run, since those replies decide this work and the quote. During the call itself, you hear our price — ahead of dispatch.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, after the tank is cleared. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes out by itself. Hence it matters more. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of the vehicle. After that we start the car and check it runs smoothly before we go.
If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Roydon
Roydon is a village situated on the riverside in Essex, with a relatively low elevation of 43 metres. Roydon lies near several small settlements, including Eastend, Halls Green, and Glen Faba, and is within commuting distance of London, approximately 19.7 miles away. Roydon has a population of around 1261 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Roydon is also close to the city of St Albans, which is 16.3 miles away.
Roydon and Essex: AdBlue drains across the area
Over CM postcodes, the teams that cover Roydon — a village — work the nearby locations too, Glen Faba and Halls Green among them. Fastest of all: quote a CM19 5 postcode to the van.
No need to move the vehicle. The drain happens on the spot, be it a drive, a street near Stocks & Lock-up, or a lay-by towards The Birches. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Village Sign.
Roydon drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere in Essex.