Thurton: 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 the engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor hasn't turned, it's emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the car sits in Thurton. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it happens and the ways to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads round Thurton and Bergh Apton carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to clean them, from its own tank.
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 the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Thurton?
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle warns 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 driveway off The Street, or heading home in the car park at The George & Dragon.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing stops the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's seconds, be it out in Low Common or right in the centre of Thurton.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Hellington Corner or a forecourt around Thurton.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is when the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Buckenham? Check with whoever drove the car last before leaving, not once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere across Norfolk the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside Norwich Road on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but 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.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check once more — making sure your diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Thurton?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. Keep the ignition off too, since on many diesels switching it on alone starts your fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Brooke Garage, the Shell or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Thurton.
Already started? Stop once it is safe, then switch off. On the M11, over 50 miles from Thurton, that means the next junction. Distance counts — a short hop across Thurton makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Norwich — so say about how far it went.
Our arrival in Thurton, and what happens next
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Thurton Primary School, near Ashby and Thurton Village Hall or on your own driveway. What liquid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the replies decide the work and price. The quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
The system is then purged thoroughly, once your tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away unaided. That is why it counts more. Testing comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or changed if necessary. The motor is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians go.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor hasn't run take about half an hour after our technicians arrive. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Thurton itself
Thurton is a small village in Norfolk, situated inland at a low elevation of around 12 metres, and is located approximately 7.7 miles from Norwich. Thurton has a population of around 565 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Thurton is also near to other small villages such as Low Common, Ashby St Mary, and Carleton St Peter, and is about 98.3 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Norfolk, Thurton included
Over NR postcodes, our teams covering Thurton — a rural village — work the surrounding locations too, Carleton St Peter and Ashby St Mary included. Quickest of all: quote a NR14 6 postcode to our van.
Shifting the vehicle is not necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Church Field, a side street close to Saint Ethelbert: our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Ashby St Mary Village Sign.
The short version for Thurton motorists
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, wherever in Norfolk: keep the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.