Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Southern Cross: Why It Occurs
Keep the motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain and a thorough flush, done right where the vehicle sits in Southern Cross, is normally all it needs when caught before the engine runs. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many current diesels on the roads around Southern Cross and Hangleton carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt call-out, again and again. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Southern Cross: how it happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Hurry comes 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 happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Shelldale Crescent, or heading home in the car park at The Stanley Arms.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and once the tip begins, no part halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Southern Cross or out in Portslade Village.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt in Southern Cross or a drive over in Mile Oak. Seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — many motors mark what goes in which inlet just there.
- Can't find it next to your diesel inlet? Then check below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Fishersgate, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light comes on — wherever you are around East Sussex — a routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Manor Hall Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both share a flap, make sure it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Finish when your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently using the own spout.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Skip stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Southern Cross already?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your engine. Keep your ignition off too, because on many diesels it by itself runs your pump. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Texaco, Sainsbury's or any forecourt will usually help pushing your car clear if you ask. Your own drive around Southern Cross is where it should stay.
Already run? Stop once it is safe, then turn off. On the M23, under 25 miles from Southern Cross, that means the next junction. A short hop across Southern Cross is a smaller job than a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 5 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Southern Cross: what happens when we get there
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, whether outside Brackenbury Primary School, beside Shree Swaminarayan Temple or on your own drive, the van travels to it. The replies decide the work and the quote, and so our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run. On the phone call itself, you are told our price — ahead of dispatch.
Then that tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out unaided. Hence it counts more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor has not run take about half an hour after our engineers arrive. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Southern Cross and where it is
Southern Cross is a suburban area in East Sussex, situated near the coast and approximately 3.4 miles west of Brighton and Hove. Southern Cross has a relatively low elevation of 17 metres above sea level and is close to nearby places such as Portslade Village and Southwick. Southern Cross is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing stock, which reflects the area's history of residential development.
AdBlue drains across East Sussex, Southern Cross included
Over BN postcodes, the teams covering Southern Cross — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Southwick and Portslade-by-Sea among them. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BN41 1.
Shifting the car is not necessary. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Southern Cross Evangelical Church, a lay-by on the way to Southern Cross Recreation Ground, a drive. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Lighthouse Community Church.
In short, for Southern Cross drivers
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the car switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across East Sussex.