Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Small Dole
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your engine has not run, it's drained and thoroughly flushed where the vehicle sits in Small Dole. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it takes place and the ways to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels in Henfield, as well as Small Dole, run on two fluids; the motor takes only your diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in at every forecourt visit, week in, week out. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. It is in the gap that the slip lives.
Small Dole: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Wood Lane, or on the way home in the car park at The Fox.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the 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 pour once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Small Dole or out in Edburton.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Castle Town or a forecourt in Small Dole, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many cars carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it lives when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Shoreham-By-Sea.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever in West Sussex the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and never in a rush beside Tottington Drive on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — after you've found your filler and read it.
- Both behind a single flap? Then confirm the cap on your diesel filler stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip step five altogether.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Small Dole?
Short order, then. Top of that: the engine remains unstarted. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the Shell or the BP, ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the petrol pump. Your own drive around Small Dole is where it stays.
Where your motor has run already, pull over somewhere safe and turn the vehicle off. Leave the M23 — under 15 miles out of Small Dole — at the first junction. A short hop across Small Dole is a smaller job than a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 10 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Small Dole: what occurs when we arrive
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Upper Beeding Primary School, close to Small Dole Village Hall or on your own drive. What fluid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since the replies decide the work and price. Nobody sets off until you have had our quote by phone.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after that tank is emptied. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Before leaving, our engineers fire it up and check that it's running properly.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Small Dole itself
Small Dole is a village in West Sussex, situated on the banks of the River Adur at an elevation of 17 metres. Small Dole has a population of around 567 people and is characterized by semi-detached housing. Small Dole is located near the South Downs, close to the cities of Brighton and Hove, and is within commuting distance of London, which is approximately 42 miles away.
AdBlue drains across West Sussex, Small Dole included
Woodmancote and Nep Town are among the towns near Small Dole, a village, that the same teams cover, over BN postcodes. A postcode starting BN5 9 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to shift your car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near St Andrew's, a lay-by on the way to Hoe Wood, a driveway. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St Peter, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The short version for Small Dole people
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it stands, anywhere in West Sussex: switch the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.