Worstead: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where the vehicle sits around Worstead, is normally all it takes if found before the motor runs. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it takes place and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many modern diesels around Briggate, like those in Worstead, carry on two liquids; your motor gets only your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
There's a filler for each tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every forecourt call-out, again and again. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Worstead: how it happens
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Honing Row, perhaps at The White Lady on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar vehicles are second, as well. Rentals, new motors and company motors put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap 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, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it occurs in Lyngate or the middle of Worstead, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Frankfort or a forecourt around Worstead, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- On plenty of vehicles, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you collect a rental or fleet car — at the nearest station's car park, perhaps — rather than when the light appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Norfolk that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Barnards Road, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems daft. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Finish when your tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Discover during the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Don't carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Worstead already?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where your fuel is sucked from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Gulf or the Sainsbury's, ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the pump. At home in Worstead? So the vehicle stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. The next exit means where to come off if you're on the M11, over 50 miles from Worstead. About how far did it go? Hopping across Worstead is less a job than a run of under 15 miles towards Norwich, so say.
Worstead: what occurs when we get there
Our van comes to your car anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Saint Mary the Virgin, or by Worstead Church of England Primary School. The answers decide this work and the quote, so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run. Nobody heads out before you have had the quote over the phone.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it counts more. After the fuel filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then the vehicle is tested. Before leaving, our technicians start the engine and check that it's running correctly.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Worstead and where it is
Worstead is a small village in Norfolk, situated inland at an elevation of around 17 metres, approximately 11.8 miles north of Norwich. Worstead has a mix of housing types, with semi-detached homes being predominant, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Lyngate, Withergate, and Bengate. Worstead is located in the Eastern region of England, about 109.8 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Norfolk, Worstead included
Withergate and Bengate are among the places around Worstead, a rural village, that the same vans cover, over NR postcodes. Quote a postcode that starts NR28 9, and our van gets there quickest.
The car remains where it is. Wherever it stands — near Worstead Village Sign, in a lay-by en route to Dilham Belt, at home — that's where it gets emptied. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Queen Elizabeth Hall.
The short version for Worstead drivers
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the car off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Norfolk.