Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Upstreet: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your motor hasn't run, it's drained and thoroughly flushed where your vehicle sits in Upstreet. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it occurs and the how to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Plenty of newer diesels around Chitty, like those in Upstreet, carry on two fluids; the engine gets just your diesel. 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, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Much less often, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Upstreet: how it takes place
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the 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 Nethergong Hill before work, or in the car park at The Grove Ferry Inn on the way home.
Unfamiliar motors are second, as well. Rentals, new motors and company vehicles put their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after begun, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Upstreet or out in Hollow Street.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt around Upstreet or a drive over in Chislet Forstal. A few seconds, that's all.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Look for it.
- The handbook says which it lives if the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Sturry.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Anywhere across Kent the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Island Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Do not go on to step five.
Upstreet: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Sainsbury's or the Shell, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Upstreet.
Already started? Stop once it's sensible, then turn off. Upstreet lies under 15 miles from the M2; there, take the first exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Upstreet is smaller a job than a run of under 10 miles to Canterbury, so tell us.
When our technicians get there around Upstreet, what takes place?
Our van comes to the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Viewing Mound, or by Chislet Church of England Primary School. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run, because the answers settle the work and the price. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes out on its own, however long it sits. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Your engine is started next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before we leave.
Unstarted cars usually mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is fine on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Upstreet itself
Upstreet is a small village in Kent, situated on the banks of the River Stour at an elevation of around 21 metres. Upstreet lies approximately 6 miles from Canterbury and 58 miles from London, making it a rural outpost in the South East of England. Upstreet has a mix of old and new housing, with detached homes being the predominant type, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Hollow Street, Chislet, and Grove.
AdBlue drains about Upstreet, and Kent beyond
Over CT postcodes, the vans that cover Upstreet — a village — work the nearby spots too, Grove and Chislet included. Give a postcode beginning CT3 4, and the van gets there fastest.
The car stays where it is. The drain happens on the spot, whether a drive, a street by Saint Mary the Virgin, or a layby on the way to Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Blood Point, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Upstreet motorists: the short version
Pour nothing till you've read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across Kent.