AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Wrestlingworth: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
Pause reading for a moment if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Wrestlingworth, finding it before the motor turns normally leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it occurs and the ways to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that's how many modern diesels around Wrestlingworth and Little Green run, with diesel feeding your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which cap to use. The error lives in that gap.
Wrestlingworth: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off The Slade, or on the way home in the car park outside The Chequers.
New-to-you vehicles are next, too. Rentals, new cars and company cars place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once started, carries on. Whether it occurs in Eyeworth or the middle of Wrestlingworth, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Potton or a forecourt around Wrestlingworth, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of motors show what belongs in which filler right there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Biggleswade, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Bedfordshire that is.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, engine off, and not rushed beside High Street on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found your filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, confirm it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Leave out stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Wrestlingworth already?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at BP, Gulf or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car clear if asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Wrestlingworth.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. On the A1(M), under 10 miles from Wrestlingworth, that means the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Cambridge, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Wrestlingworth.
Wrestlingworth: what happens when our engineers turn up
By Wrestlingworth CofE Infant School, near Memorial Hall or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our engineers come to it. Those answers decide this work and the quote, and so our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it's run. No one sets off before you have had our price by phone.
Then that tank is drained and your system flushed thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of it washes away unaided, however long it sits. A test comes last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed as needed. The motor is started next and checked to confirm it runs properly, all before our engineers leave.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit from arrival. The kit is safe on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Wrestlingworth itself
Wrestlingworth is a small village in Bedfordshire, situated in the eastern part of the county, with an elevation of around 40 metres above sea level. Wrestlingworth lies approximately 13.7 miles from Cambridge and 41.7 miles from London, making it a rural community with easy access to larger cities. Wrestlingworth has a population of around 596 people, predominantly living in detached houses, and is surrounded by nearby villages such as Eyeworth and Cockayne Hatley.
Wrestlingworth and Bedfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a rural village, Wrestlingworth shares its vans nearby areas — Cockayne Hatley, Tadlow — right through SG postcodes and the surrounding area around them. A postcode starting SG19 2 gets the van to you fastest.
Shifting your car is not necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street close to St Peter's Church, a lay-by on the way to Wrestlingworth Playing Field, a driveway. Tricky to pin down, like the back of All Saints? By a county line? Checking beats assuming, and so phone.
The short version for Wrestlingworth motorists
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the car off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout Bedfordshire.