Appledore: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop reading for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Appledore, catching it before the motor turns normally means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels in Westleigh, like those in Appledore, run on two fluids; your motor takes only your diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the error happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Appledore?
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Market Street before work, or in the car park at The Royal on the way home.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as readily, and after the pour starts, nothing halts it. Instow or the heart of Appledore: it takes the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Northam or a forecourt in Appledore, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel inlet? Then check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Barnstaple? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Wherever in Devon the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Silver Street, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Stop when your tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, pour gently using the built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
Appledore: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. Leave the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it by itself starts your pump. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the base instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Morrisons, Texaco or any other — the attendants will usually help push the car clear, when you ask. Your own driveway in Appledore is the place it should stay.
Already started? Stop when it's sensible, then switch off. Leave the M5 — under 50 miles out of Appledore — at the first junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Appledore is smaller a job than a run of under 50 miles towards Exeter, so say.
Our arrival around Appledore, and what takes place next
Outside Appledore School, near Appledore Library or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Which fluid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since those replies set the work and quote. That price comes on the call, before any van leaves.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. After that we start it and make sure it runs correctly before we leave.
If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Appledore and where it is
Appledore is a small coastal village in Devon, situated on the north coast of the region, with a population of around 1052 people. Appledore sits at a low elevation of 9 metres, looking out over the sea towards the nearby beaches and estuaries. Appledore is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing and its proximity to nearby places like Instow and Instow Town. Appledore remains a quiet residential community with a strong sense of local identity.
AdBlue drains round Appledore, and Devon beyond
As a coastal village, Appledore shares its vans surrounding areas — Diddywell, Instow Town — all the way across EX postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting EX39 1.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. The drain takes place right there, whether a driveway, a road near Blue Lights Hall, or a lay-by towards Anchor Park. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Bethel Gospel Hall, ring and ask instead of assuming.
For Appledore motorists, the short version
Tip nothing till you have read the cap. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it is, wherever across Devon: switch it off then phone 0333 366 0103.