AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Heath: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your engine has not run, it's drained and fully cleaned where the car sits around The Heath. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the why it occurs and the ways to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels in Kingshall Street, as well as The Heath, run on two fluids; the engine takes only your diesel. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the gas.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Many of motors share a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think what cap it needs. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in The Heath
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up together.
Haste comes from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Heath Close, or on the way home in the car park at Bennet Arms.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches 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, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it happens in Hessett or the middle of The Heath, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Be it a The Heath forecourt or a driveway over in Kingshall Green, take a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Thurston? Check with whoever drove it last before leaving, rather than once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere in Suffolk, follow this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine off, and never in a rush by Renson Close at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five is off limits.
The Heath: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. Leave the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it alone runs your fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Murco, BP or any forecourt will normally help pushing your car clear when you ask. Your own driveway in The Heath is the place it should stay.
Where the motor has been run already, pull over somewhere safe and turn the vehicle off. On the M11, under 50 miles from The Heath, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing The Heath is less work than a trip of under 25 miles towards Colchester, so tell us.
Our arrival around The Heath, and what happens next
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, be it outside Rougham Church of England Primary School, near Hessett Village Sign or at home, the van travels to it. What liquid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because the answers set both work and price. No one heads out until you've had our price over the phone.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. After the filter is flushed — or renewed, where needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally the car gets tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running correctly.
If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About The Heath and where it is
The Heath is a small suburban area in Suffolk, situated inland at an elevation of 66 metres, and comprising predominantly detached housing. The Heath is located near several nearby villages, including Hessett, Nether Street, and High Rougham, and is within commuting distance of Colchester. The Heath has a population of approximately 513 residents and is set in a rural landscape. The Heath is also within reach of larger urban centres, being around 63.7 miles from London.
AdBlue drains around The Heath, and Suffolk beyond
Being a residential suburb, The Heath shares its vans surrounding areas — Nether Street, High Rougham — right through IP postcodes and the wider area beyond. Give a postcode beginning IP30 9, and our van gets there quickest.
The vehicle remains put. The drain happens on the spot, whether a drive, a street near St Ethelbert (Hessett Parish Church), or a layby towards The Shrubbery. Tricky to explain, like the back of Hessett & Beyton Village Hall? By a county line? Checking beats guessing, and so phone.
For The Heath people, the short version
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Suffolk, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103.