Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The High: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, keep the ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your motor hasn't run, it's drained and fully rinsed where your vehicle sits around The High. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it takes place and the ways to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many current diesels on the roads around The High and Netteswell carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler for each tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on many motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens in The High
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Haydens Road before work, or in the car park at The William Aylmer on the way home.
New-to-you motors come next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after begun, keeps on. Harlow or the heart of The High: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Passmores or a forecourt in The High, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Look for it.
- The handbook shows which it is when your filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Harlow Town, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
For the day the warning appears — wherever you are around Essex — a routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of College Gate.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, then check again — making sure your diesel filler remained closed throughout. Only then, start the car.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Don't carry on to stage five.
The High: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of blending — and that's where your fuel is pulled from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the Sainsbury's, ask the staff to help roll your car away from the pump. If you are on your own driveway in The High, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Already started? Pull over once it's sensible, then turn off. On the M11, under 3 miles from The High, that means the next exit. Distance matters — a quick hop across The High makes a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Chelmsford — so say about how far it went.
When our engineers get there in The High, what happens?
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Hare Street Community Primary School and Nursery, near Chief or on your own driveway. We ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run, since those replies decide this work and the price. The price comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Then your tank is drained and the system purged thoroughly. 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 counts more here than with petrol. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Your engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before we go.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About The High and where it is
The High is a suburban area located on the riverside in Essex, with an elevation of 72 metres. The High sits near the cities of Chelmsford and Harlow, and is also close to the communities of Little Parndon and Hare Street. The High is characterized by its predominant housing type, which is flat, and is situated approximately 20 miles from London. The High has a population of around 6424 residents.
AdBlue drains across Essex, The High included
Little Parndon and Hare Street are among the places near The High, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over CM postcodes. Quote a postcode beginning CM20 1, and the van arrives quickest.
The vehicle stays put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Northbrooks Park, a side street near Risen Christ at Emmaus: we drain the vehicle where it stands. Guessing won't help behind Soldier Bending a Bow, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
The short version for The High motorists
Tip no AdBlue until you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Essex.