Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in South Lancing
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in South Lancing. Not happened yet? Further down, the page covers the why it occurs and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels in Upper Cokeham, as well as South Lancing, carry on two fluids; the engine takes only the diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have the two side by side behind one flap. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in South Lancing
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Beachcroft Place, perhaps at The Empire Club on the way home that evening.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar motor.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of South Lancing or out in Lancing.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Sompting or a forecourt in South Lancing.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — many cars show which belongs in which inlet right there.
- Can't find it next to your diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Lancing.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across West Sussex that is.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Penhill Road.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located the filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, shut the cap and check again that your diesel cap was never came off.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around South Lancing?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the pump if you're at a forecourt — the BP, the Shell or somewhere else. If you are on your own driveway in South Lancing, leave the vehicle where it sits.
Already started? Stop when it is safe, then switch off. On the M23, under 25 miles from South Lancing, that means the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across South Lancing.
When our technicians turn up around South Lancing, what occurs?
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, whether outside Seaside Primary School, near Lancing and Sompting Lions Hall or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether it has run, since those replies determine this work and the price. No one sets off before you have heard our price by phone.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We don't go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine has not run take roughly half an hour once our technicians are there. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About South Lancing
South Lancing is a coastal suburban area in West Sussex, situated near the city of Brighton and Hove. South Lancing lies at a low elevation of around 6 metres, close to the shore. South Lancing has a mix of residential and recreational areas, with a high proportion of flats reflecting its popularity as a place to live. South Lancing is part of the wider Lancing area, which includes nearby Lancing, Lower Cokeham, and North Lancing.
South Lancing and West Sussex: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout BN postcodes, the teams covering South Lancing — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, North Lancing and Lower Cokeham among them. Quote a postcode that starts BN15 8, and our van arrives fastest.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near St. Michael & All Angels, a lay-by on the way to Lancing Beach Green, a driveway. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Metal Sculpture, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In short, for South Lancing people
Always, the cap; then, the pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout West Sussex.