Stockbridge: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Pause here for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your motor has not run, it's emptied and fully rinsed where the car is in Stockbridge. Reading in advance? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Plenty of newer diesels in The Close, as well as Stockbridge, carry on two fluids; the engine gets just the diesel. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the gas to clean them, from its own tank.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at each filling station visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Stockbridge?
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off St. George's Drive, perhaps at The Richmond on the way home after work.
New-to-you motors are second, too. Rentals, new motors and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it 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, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it occurs in Apuldram or the middle of Stockbridge, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Stockbridge or a driveway over in Chichester. Seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it beside the diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check as you pick up a rental or company car — at Chichester's car park, perhaps — rather than once the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around West Sussex that is.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Selsey Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays 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's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure your diesel filler remained shut the whole time. After that, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Skip stage five altogether.
Stockbridge: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of blending — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the Tesco, ask the staff to help push your car clear of the petrol pump. Your own driveway in Stockbridge is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. The next junction means the place to come off when you are on the Waterlooville Bypass, under 10 miles from Stockbridge. Distance counts — a short hop across Stockbridge is a smaller job than driving under 3 miles to Chichester — so tell us about how far it went.
When our engineers turn up in Stockbridge, what takes place?
By Kingsham Primary School, near Donnington Parish Hall or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Both the work and our price depend on three answers — which liquid, which quantity, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. You get that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your car. We don't go until it has been started and is running properly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we get there, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Stockbridge
Stockbridge is a suburban area located on the riverside in West Sussex, with an elevation of around 6 metres above sea level. Stockbridge sits close to the city of Chichester, approximately 1 mile away, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Apuldram, Crouchers, and Donnington. Stockbridge has a population of around 2782 people and predominantly features semi-detached housing. Stockbridge is situated in a commuter belt, about 55 miles from London.
AdBlue drains about Stockbridge, and West Sussex beyond
Stockbridge is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Crouchers and Donnington among them, across the PO postcode area. A postcode starting PO19 8 gets our van to you fastest.
Moving the car is not needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Donnington Park, a side street close to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: our engineers drain it where it stands. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Donnington Manor..
Stockbridge motorists: the short version
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around West Sussex, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — and so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.