Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Wigginton: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where your vehicle sits around Wigginton, is usually what it takes if found before your engine runs. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel feeds your motor — but plenty of current diesels seen about Wigginton and Cow Roast hold another liquid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in at each forecourt visit, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. That gap is where the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen in Wigginton?
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off The Twist, or outside The Greyhound on the way home after work.
Unfamiliar vehicles are second, as well. Rentals, new cars and company motors place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and after the tip starts, no part stops it. It takes a few seconds, be it out in Wigginton Bottom or bang in the centre of Wigginton.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Wigginton forecourt or a driveway out in Tring, spend a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Tring, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere you are around Hertfordshire — a routine to use.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside Hemp Lane at the roadside.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew 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.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Leave out step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Wigginton?
Do not start the motor: that is how the short order of things begins. Leave the ignition off as well, since on many diesels switching it on alone starts your fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, right where fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — Texaco, Shell or another — the staff will normally help push your car clear, if you ask. Your own drive around Wigginton is where it should stay.
Already started? Stop once it is safe, then switch off. Wigginton lies under 10 miles from the M1; on it, take the first junction. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Wigginton makes a smaller job than heading under 15 miles to St Albans — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Wigginton: what takes place when we arrive
Wherever the car came to rest, whether by St Bartholomew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Wigginton, near St Bartholomew's Church or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what fluid, what quantity, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. That price comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Then that tank is drained and your system cleaned thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of that clears away by itself. Hence it counts more. Once the fuel filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel is added, and then the vehicle gets tested. Before we go, our engineers fire it up and make sure that it is running properly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Wigginton
Wigginton is a rural village in Hertfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of 211 metres, with Wigginton being close to several nearby places including Wigginton Bottom, Upper Dunsley, and New Ground. Wigginton has a population of approximately 813 residents, with Wigginton being characterised by predominantly detached housing. Wigginton is located 29 miles from London and 13 miles from the nearest city, St Albans.
AdBlue drains in Wigginton and across Hertfordshire
Wigginton is a rural village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Upper Dunsley and New Ground among them, across the HP postcode area. A postcode starting HP23 6 gets our van to you fastest.
The car doesn't need to move. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Langton Wood, a side street close to Wigginton Village Hall: our engineers drain the car where it is. Tricky to explain, like the back of Summer House? Close to a border? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
In short, for Wigginton people
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Hertfordshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — and so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.