Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Barton Hill: Why It Happens
Pause here a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor hasn't turned, it is emptied and fully flushed where your vehicle is in Barton Hill. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels in Redfield, like those in Barton Hill, carry on two fluids; your motor gets just the diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Barton Hill: how it takes place
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from your car, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Cookworthy Close, perhaps outside The Packhorse on the way home that evening.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once begun, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Barton Hill or out in Russell Town.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Barton Hill forecourt or a drive over in Upper Easton, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it is when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Lawrence Hill? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, not once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Bristol that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Barton Hill Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- Both behind one flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel side is still shut before raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and check again that the diesel cap never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Barton Hill?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Esso, Sainsbury's or another — the staff will usually help roll the vehicle away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Barton Hill.
When your engine has been run by now, pull over somewhere safe and turn the car off. Barton Hill sits under a mile from the M32; there, use the first junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Bristol, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Barton Hill.
What occurs when our technicians get there around Barton Hill
The van comes to the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Saint Luke's Church, or outside E-Act Barton Hill Academy. Our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run, because the answers determine this work and our quote. On the phone call itself, you hear the price — ahead of anything else.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. That is why it counts more. The filter flushed or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the car. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, as long as the motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Barton Hill, for a moment
Barton Hill is a suburban area located on the riverside in Bristol, with a mix of residential and industrial spaces. Barton Hill sits at a low elevation of around 20 metres, close to the city centre and nearby neighbourhoods such as Russell Town and Moorfields. Barton Hill is predominantly composed of flat housing, reflecting its urban character. Barton Hill is situated near the River Avon, which has played a significant role in the development of the area.
AdBlue drains about Barton Hill, and Bristol beyond
Moorfields and The Dings are among the towns around Barton Hill, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over BS postcodes. A postcode starting BS5 0 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car remains put. The drain happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a road by Crypt Centre, or a layby on the way to The Walled Garden. Awkward to pin down, like the back of The Climbing Academy? Close to a county line? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
For Barton Hill drivers, the short version
Pour no AdBlue until you have read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Bristol.