AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Spaldwick: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Spaldwick. Not happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it takes place and the ways to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one liquid but two: that is what many modern diesels near Spaldwick and Stow Longa run, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Spaldwick
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Stow Road, or outside The George on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar vehicles come second, too. Hire cars, new cars and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Nothing stops the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Upthorpe or the middle of Spaldwick, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Spaldwick or a driveway over in Barham. Seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside your diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or in the 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 pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Huntingdon.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — anywhere you are around Cambridgeshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Littlecotes Close.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once your tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, pour gently through its built-in spout.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap was never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Spaldwick already?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. Thinning it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Applegreen, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will usually help pushing your car away when asked. Your own driveway in Spaldwick is the place it stays.
Already started? Stop once it is safe, then switch off. Spaldwick sits under 5 miles from the A1(M); there, use the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Peterborough, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Spaldwick.
Spaldwick: what takes place when our engineers get there
Outside Spaldwick Primary School, close to St James' Church, Spaldwick or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Those answers settle this work and our price, so our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run. On the call itself, you are told the price — ahead of anything else.
The system is then cleaned thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, if needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of your vehicle. Before leaving, our technicians fire it up and check that it's running correctly.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Spaldwick, briefly
Spaldwick is a village in Cambridgeshire, situated near the River Nene, with its elevation at around 26 metres above sea level. Spaldwick lies within a network of rural villages, including nearby Upthorpe, Easton, and Woolley, and is approximately 16.5 miles from Peterborough. Spaldwick has a population of around 605 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Spaldwick is also within commuting distance of London, being around 58.4 miles away.
Spaldwick and Cambridgeshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Easton and Woolley are among the places around Spaldwick, a village, that the same teams cover, over PE postcodes. A postcode starting PE28 0 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. We drain it where it is — a side street near St Peter's Church, Easton, a lay-by on the way to Shepherds Close, a driveway. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Parish Church of St Mary, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Spaldwick people, the short version
First, the cap; then, the pour. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it is, wherever in Cambridgeshire: switch the car off and call 0333 366 0103.