Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Rudgwick
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Rudgwick, finding it before the engine turns normally leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels around The Haven, as well as Rudgwick, run on two fluids; the motor gets just the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the pump happens constantly. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around Rudgwick
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things lining up together.
On a drive off Furze Road before work, or in the car park at The Fox Inn on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, 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, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Bucks Green or the heart of Rudgwick: it takes the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Rowhook or a forecourt around Rudgwick, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of cars mark which belongs in which inlet just there.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, 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 Christs Hospital.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in West Sussex that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Kilnfield Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The two under one flap? Then make sure the cap on your diesel filler is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find during the second or third step that AdBlue went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Stage five stays off limits.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Rudgwick?
The short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. 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 pulled from.
The attendants at BP, Shell or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car away if you ask. Your own driveway in Rudgwick is the place it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. The next junction means where to come off when you are on the M23, under 15 miles from Rudgwick. About how far did it go? Crossing Rudgwick is smaller work than a run of under 25 miles to Chichester, and so tell us.
Our arrival in Rudgwick, and what occurs next
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Rudgwick Primary School, close to Holy Trinity Church or on your own driveway. What fluid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask because the replies decide both work and price. On the phone call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Then the tank is emptied and your system rinsed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, where it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; then a check of your car. Before leaving, our technicians fire it up and confirm that it's running properly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once we arrive, as long as your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Rudgwick
Rudgwick is a village in West Sussex, situated inland at an elevation of 54 metres, with a mix of rural and residential areas. Rudgwick lies near the villages of Bucks Green, Tismans Common, and Ellens Green, and is approximately 22.7 miles from Chichester. Rudgwick has a population of around 1185 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Rudgwick is also within commuting distance of London, being around 31.9 miles from the city.
AdBlue drains in Rudgwick and across West Sussex
Tismans Common and Ellens Green are among the towns near Rudgwick, a rural village, that the same vans cover, over RH postcodes. A postcode starting RH12 3 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to shift the vehicle. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Rudgwick Village Hall, a lay-by on the way to Gravatt's Hanger, a drive. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Motte.
The short version for Rudgwick people
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in West Sussex, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off then call 0333 366 0103.