Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Blatchington
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, keep the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where your car stands in West Blatchington, is normally all it takes if caught before your motor runs. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single fluid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels near West Blatchington and Aldrington run, with diesel feeding the engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have the two together behind one flap. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in the gap that the mistake happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around West Blatchington: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from your car, and running out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Clayton Way, perhaps at The Nevill on the way home after work.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
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. Westdene or the heart of West Blatchington: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Portslade-by-Sea or a forecourt around West Blatchington.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Aldrington.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere across East Sussex, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Poynings Drive, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in West Blatchington?
Brief list, then. Top of that: the engine remains unstarted. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so leave it off. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — Esso, Shell or another — the attendants will normally help push your car clear, when you ask. On your own drive around West Blatchington? Then the car stays put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction is where to leave when you are on the M23, under 25 miles from West Blatchington. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across West Blatchington.
When we arrive around West Blatchington, what happens?
Wherever your car came to rest, be it by West Blatchington Primary and Nursery School, beside St Peter's or at home, our van comes to it. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and whether it's run — so we ask. That quote comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Draining that tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the fuel filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Before we leave, our engineers start it and make sure that it is running properly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our engineers get there, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt yet 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. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About West Blatchington and where it is
West Blatchington is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, situated near the South Downs and approximately 2.6 miles from the city centre. West Blatchington sits at an elevation of around 76 metres, with its semi-detached housing stock being a predominant feature of the area. West Blatchington is close to nearby places such as Westdene, Hangleton, and Withdean, and is about 45.5 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across East Sussex, West Blatchington included
West Blatchington is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Hangleton and Withdean among them, across the BN postcode area. Quote a postcode that starts BN3 8, and the van gets there fastest.
No need to move the vehicle. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Hangleton Park, a side street near West Blatchington Windmill: our engineers drain the car where it is. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of St George's Catholic Church.
For West Blatchington people, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, wherever in East Sussex: keep the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.