Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in St Annes: Why It Occurs
Pause here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where the vehicle stands in St Annes, is normally all it takes if found before your engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the why it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels around Landport, as well as St Annes, carry on two fluids; your motor takes just your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both together behind one flap. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. That gap is where the slip lives.
St Annes: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and running dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off St Anne's Crescent, or outside The Black Horse Inn on the way home after work.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand gets to 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, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. It's seconds, whether out in Wallands Park or right in the heart of St Annes.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Cliffe or a forecourt around St Annes, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to your diesel inlet? Then check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask as you pick up a rental or company car — at Lewes's car park, say — rather than when the light appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere across East Sussex the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Abergavenny Road, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It seems silly. It works.
- The two behind one flap? So confirm the cap on the 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.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never came off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Never go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in St Annes?
The short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Keep the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it alone starts the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Tesco or the BP, ask the staff to help roll the car away from the petrol pump. If you're on your own driveway in St Annes, leave it where it stands.
When the motor has run already, pull over safely then turn the car off. Leave the M23 — under 25 miles out of St Annes — at the next exit. Mileage matters — a quick hop across St Annes makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Brighton and Hove — so tell us roughly how far it went.
What takes place when we arrive around St Annes
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, whether outside Western Road Community Primary School, near St Anne's Church or at home, the van travels to it. What fluid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because those replies set the work and quote. No one sets off before you have had the price by phone.
Draining that tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals build up, some metals corrode, and nothing clears out unaided, however long it sits. The filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your car. The motor is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our technicians leave.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run need about half an hour once we arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About St Annes itself
St Annes is a suburban area in East Sussex, situated on the River Ouse at an elevation of 44 metres, with views across the surrounding countryside. St Annes is located near the towns of Lewes and Brighton and Hove, with the latter being approximately 7 miles away. St Annes has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. St Annes is also close to other local areas, including Wallands Park and Southover.
AdBlue drains round St Annes, and East Sussex beyond
As a residential suburb, St Annes shares its vans surrounding areas — Southover, Lewes — all the way through BN postcodes and the surrounding area around them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BN7 1.
Moving the car isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Baxters Field, a side street near St Pancras Catholic Church: we drain the vehicle where it sits. Tricky to explain, like the back of Con Club? Close to a county line? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
For St Annes people, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it is, anywhere across East Sussex: switch the car off and phone 0333 366 0103.