AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Freehold: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in The Freehold. Here in advance? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
No single liquid but two: that is how many modern diesels around The Freehold and Hoo run, with diesel for the engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
There is a filler on each tank. Many of motors share a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. It is in the gap that the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around The Freehold?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off Augustine Road before work, or in the car park outside The New Inn on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and once it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's the second thing: a new motor.
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 once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of The Freehold or out in Minster.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a The Freehold forecourt or a driveway out in Way, take a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Minster.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Kent that is.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Kenton Gardens.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It seems daft. It works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check again. 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. Do not go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around The Freehold?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the Esso or anywhere else. If you're on your own driveway in The Freehold, leave the vehicle where it sits.
When your motor has run already, pull over safely then switch the car off. Come off the M2 — under 25 miles out of The Freehold — at the next exit. A short hop across The Freehold is a smaller job than a run towards Canterbury, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
What happens when we arrive in The Freehold
Wherever the car came to rest, whether by Minster Church of England Primary School, beside Minster Library & Neighbourhood Centre or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask since the replies set the work and price. No one sets off before you have had our price by phone.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of it clears out by itself. That is why it matters more. Once the fuel filter is flushed — or renewed, where required — fresh diesel is added, and finally the car gets tested. Next we start the car and make sure it runs properly before we leave.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor has not run need about half an hour after our engineers arrive. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About The Freehold itself
The Freehold is a suburban area in Kent, situated inland at an elevation of 16 metres, approximately 10.7 miles from Canterbury. The Freehold is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock, which reflects the typical residential development of the South East region. The Freehold is located near other local places such as Minster, Durlock, and Mount Pleasant, and is about 63.1 miles from London.
The Freehold and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
Durlock and Mount Pleasant are among the towns around The Freehold, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over CT postcodes. A postcode starting CT12 4 gets our van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to The Salvation Army, a lay-by on the way to Monkton Sports & Play Area, a driveway. Guessing won't help behind Minster Village Hall, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and ask.
For The Freehold drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it is, anywhere across Kent: keep the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.