Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Upper Dicker: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your engine hasn't run, it's drained and fully flushed where your car is around Upper Dicker. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel feeds the motor — yet many newer diesels seen round Upper Dicker and Caneheath hold a second fluid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
Upper Dicker: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Coldharbour Road before work, or in the car park at The Plough heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it is empty, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar vehicles come next, too. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after begun, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Upper Dicker or out in Wickstreet.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt in Upper Dicker or a driveway out in Arlington. Seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook. If your 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 — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Berwick (Sussex).
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever across East Sussex, use this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Old Forge Close.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Finish once the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently using its built-in spout.
- Close the cap, and check once more — making sure the diesel cap stayed shut throughout. Only then, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Leave out stage five entirely.
Upper Dicker: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Brief list, then. First: the motor remains off. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so keep it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — Shell, BP or any other — the staff will usually help push your car away, if you ask. At home in Upper Dicker? So your car remains put.
Already started? Pull over once it is safe, then switch off. On the M23, under 25 miles from Upper Dicker, that means the next exit. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Upper Dicker makes a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Brighton and Hove — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Upper Dicker, and what takes place next
Outside Park Mead Primary School, near Holy Trinity or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. The replies determine this work and our quote, so our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears out on its own, no matter how long it sits. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. The engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs properly, all before our technicians head off.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our engineers arrive, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Upper Dicker
Upper Dicker is a small village in East Sussex, situated near the River Cuckmere and surrounded by rolling countryside. Upper Dicker has a population of around 599 people and is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock. Upper Dicker sits at an elevation of 21 metres, close to the villages of Wickstreet, Lower Dicker, and Tile Hurst, and is within commuting distance of Brighton and Hove.
AdBlue drains round Upper Dicker, and East Sussex beyond
Over BN postcodes, our teams covering Upper Dicker — a village — work the surrounding locations too, Tile Hurst and Lower Dicker included. Give a postcode beginning BN27 3, and our van gets there quickest.
Moving the car is not necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Dicker Cricket Club, a side street close to Bede's MPH (Multi Purpose Hall): we drain the car where it is. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Bede's Zoo.
For Upper Dicker drivers, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in East Sussex, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — and so leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103.