AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Shefford: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
Stop here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor has not turned, it is drained and thoroughly rinsed where your vehicle is around Shefford. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's how plenty of newer diesels near Shefford and Cliton Manor run, with diesel feeding your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it.
There is a filler for each tank. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many motors. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel goes in at every filling station visit, again and again. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think which cap it needs. The slip lives in that gap.
Shefford: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off South Bridge Street, or heading home in the car park outside The Cornerstone.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Shefford or out in Chicksands.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Shefford forecourt or a driveway out in Meppershall, spend a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- On plenty of cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of cars mark which belongs in each inlet right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Arlesey, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Anywhere around Bedfordshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of North Bridge Street.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It seems daft. 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.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Leave out step five entirely.
Shefford: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Do not start your engine: that is where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so leave it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the JET or the Esso, ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the pump. Your own drive in Shefford is the place it should stay.
When the motor has been run already, pull over safely and turn the vehicle off. The next junction is the place to come off if you're on the A1(M), under 10 miles from Shefford. About how far did it go? Crossing Shefford is less a job than a trip of under 25 miles to Milton Keynes, so tell us.
Shefford: what happens when our technicians arrive
Wherever your car has stopped, be it outside Shefford Lower School, beside Shefford Scout Group or at home, our van travels to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three answers — what fluid, what quantity, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. During the call itself, you hear the price — before anything else.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Before we go, we start the car and make sure that it's running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our technicians get there, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Shefford, briefly
Shefford is a town situated in a riverside setting in Bedfordshire, England. Located in the Central Bedfordshire district, it is positioned near the River Ivel. Shefford is found to the south-east of Bedford, its nearest major town. The town has a distinct character shaped by its rural surroundings.
AdBlue drains across Bedfordshire, Shefford included
Throughout SG postcodes, the teams covering Shefford — a riverside town — work the surrounding places too, Clifton and Campton among them. A postcode starting SG17 5 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to shift the car. Wherever it sits — near St Michael & All Angels, in a layby en route to Shefford Millenium Green, at home — that's where it is drained. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Shefford Library, ring and ask instead of guessing.
For Shefford drivers, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Bedfordshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.