Tollesbury: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Leave your engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, done just where the car sits in Tollesbury, is normally all it needs if found before the motor runs. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it occurs and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to the engine — but many newer diesels driven about Tollesbury and Downhall Beach Estate carry a second liquid too. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of cars share a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which cap to use. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens in Tollesbury
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
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 drive off East Street before work, or in the car park at The King's Head on the way home.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
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. Tolleshunt DArcy or the heart of Tollesbury: it takes the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Bradwell Waterside or a forecourt around Tollesbury, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it beside your diesel inlet? Then check below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Southminster, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Anywhere in Essex the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of High Street.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've located your filler and read it.
- The two under a single flap? So make sure the cap on your diesel filler stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Do not go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Tollesbury already?
Short list, then. Top of it: your engine remains off. Keep the ignition off as well, since on many diesels it alone starts your pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, Old Forge Filling Station or another — the attendants will usually help push the vehicle clear, if you ask. If you are on your own drive around Tollesbury, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Where your motor has been run already, pull over safely then turn it off. The next exit is the place to come off if you're on the M25, under 50 miles from Tollesbury. Distance counts — a quick hop across Tollesbury is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles to Colchester — so say about how far it went.
What occurs when we turn up in Tollesbury
The van comes to the car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, near St Mary the Virgin, Tollesbury, or outside Tollesbury School. What liquid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask since the replies set both work and price. The quote comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Then the tank is drained and the system purged thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. After your filter has been flushed — or renewed, where needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally the vehicle gets tested. The motor is started next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before we head off.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Tollesbury itself
Tollesbury is a coastal village in Essex, situated near the mouth of the River Blackwater, with an elevation of around 28 metres above sea level. Tollesbury lies approximately 9.5 miles from Colchester and 44.7 miles from London, making it a relatively accessible rural community. Tollesbury has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent in the village. Tollesbury is surrounded by other small villages, including Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Salcott-cum-Virley, and Great Wigborough.
Tollesbury and Essex: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout CM postcodes, our teams that cover Tollesbury — a coastal village — work the nearby spots too, Great Wigborough and Salcott-cum-Virley among them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting CM9 8.
The car doesn't need to shift. The drain happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a road near Lightship, or a lay-by on the way to Victory Recreation Ground. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Saint Nicholas, Tolleshunt D'Arcy? By a border? Asking beats guessing, and so phone.
Tollesbury drivers: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, wherever across Essex: switch the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.