St Nicholas at Wade: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around St Nicholas at Wade. Not happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it occurs and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many modern diesels around Monkton, like those in St Nicholas at Wade, carry on two fluids; the engine gets only the diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every filling station visit, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. It is in that gap that the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around St Nicholas at Wade: how it occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
Haste comes from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off The Length, or on the way home in the car park at Bell Inn.
The old car's cap 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: a new car.
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 pour once it has started. Whether it takes place in Potten Street or the middle of St Nicholas at Wade, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a St Nicholas at Wade forecourt or a drive out in Brooks End, spend a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Birchington-On-Sea? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, not once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere across Kent, use this routine.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — not rushing on the side of Manor Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both sit under a flap, confirm it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Stop when that tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around St Nicholas at Wade already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, Esso or another — the staff will normally help push the vehicle away, if you ask. Your own driveway around St Nicholas at Wade is where it should stay.
Where your engine has run already, stop safely then turn the vehicle off. St Nicholas at Wade lies under 15 miles from the M2; on it, use the first exit. About how far did it go? Crossing St Nicholas at Wade is less work than a trip of under 10 miles to Canterbury, so tell us.
Our arrival around St Nicholas at Wade, and what occurs next
The van reaches the car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near St Nicholas-at-Wade Village Hall, or by St Nicholas At Wade Church of England Primary School. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, because the replies determine the work and the quote. During the phone call itself, you hear the price — ahead of dispatch.
Then your tank is emptied and the fuel system purged thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out unaided. That is why it counts more. After your filter is flushed — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally the vehicle gets tested. Before we leave, our engineers start it and confirm that it's running properly.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor has not run take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About St Nicholas at Wade and where it is
St Nicholas at Wade is a small village on the north coast of Kent, situated near the mouth of the River Stour and close to the nearby settlements of Potten Street and Sarre. St Nicholas at Wade has a population of around 731 people and is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock. St Nicholas at Wade is located about 9 miles from Canterbury and 60 miles from London, making it a relatively rural community within commuting distance of larger urban areas.
AdBlue drains round St Nicholas at Wade, and Kent beyond
St Nicholas at Wade is a coastal village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Gore Street and Sarre among them, across the CT postcode area. Quote a postcode that starts CT7 0, and the van gets there quickest.
Moving the vehicle isn't needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Monkton Nature Reserve, a side street close to St Nicholas: we drain the car where it stands. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Monkton War Memorial? By a county line? Checking is better than guessing, so ring.
The short version for St Nicholas at Wade drivers
Tip no AdBlue until you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Kent, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.