Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Sicklesmere
Stop reading a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your motor has not turned, it is drained and thoroughly flushed where the vehicle is around Sicklesmere. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your motor — yet many newer diesels driven about Sicklesmere and Cocks Green hold another fluid too. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from a separate tank.
There is a filler on every tank. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place the two side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
Sicklesmere: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Little Welnetham Road before work, or in the car park at Rushbrooke Arms on the way home.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as easily, and after the pour begins, no part stops it. It's seconds, be it in Great Welnetham or right in the heart of Sicklesmere.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Nowton or a forecourt around Sicklesmere, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask as you collect a rental or fleet car — from Bury St Edmunds's car park, perhaps — rather than when the light appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across Suffolk the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of A134, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Sicklesmere already?
Brief list, then. First: the engine stays off. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
The staff at BP, Sainsbury's or another forecourt will usually help pushing the car clear when asked. At home around Sicklesmere? So the vehicle remains where it is.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next exit means where to come off when you're on the M11, under 50 miles from Sicklesmere. Distance counts — a short hop across Sicklesmere makes a smaller job than heading under 25 miles to Colchester — so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Sicklesmere, and what takes place next
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, be it by Great Whelnetham Church of England Primary School, beside Whelnetham Community Centre or at home, our van travels to it. Which fluid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because those answers set the work and quote. The quote is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Draining your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes away on its own, however long it is left. Once your filter is flushed — or replaced, where required — clean diesel goes in, and finally your vehicle is tested. Next we fire it up and make sure it runs properly before leaving.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps we use are fine 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. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Sicklesmere and where it is
Sicklesmere is a small village in Suffolk, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 48 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Sicklesmere lies near the villages of Great Welnetham and Little Welnetham, and is close to Rushbrooke, in the eastern part of the country. Sicklesmere is located approximately 23 miles from Colchester and 61 miles from London, making it a rural community with easy access to larger towns and cities. Sicklesmere has a population of around 573 people, living in a quiet riverside setting.
Sicklesmere and Suffolk: AdBlue drains across the area
As a village, Sicklesmere has the same vans as nearby areas — Little Welnetham, Rushbrooke — right through IP postcodes and the wider area around them. A postcode starting IP30 0 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving the car isn't needed. Wherever it sits — beside St Mary Magdalene, in a layby heading to Polsespond Wood, on a drive — that is where it gets cleared. Assuming won't help behind St Thomas a Becket, on a border, or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
The short version for Sicklesmere people
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere in Suffolk.