Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Begbroke: Why It Occurs
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where the car sits around Begbroke, is usually all it needs when found before the engine runs. Reading in advance? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the motor — but plenty of current diesels seen round Begbroke and Thrupp hold another fluid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank comes with a filler of its own. Many of vehicles have a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think what filler it needs. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Begbroke: how it happens
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
On a driveway off Begbroke Lane before work, or in the car park outside The Royal Sun on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after begun, carries on. It takes a few seconds, whether in Oxford Spires Park or right in the centre of Begbroke.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt in Begbroke or a drive over in Kidlington. A few seconds, that's all.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Oxford Parkway? Ask whoever drove the car last before leaving, rather than once the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Oxfordshire that is.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Woodstock Road East.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Stage five is off limits.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Begbroke?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. Keep the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it by itself runs the pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Shell, BP or any forecourt will normally help pushing your car clear when asked. If you're on your own driveway around Begbroke, leave it where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. The next junction is the place to leave when you're on the M40, under 10 miles from Begbroke. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Oxford, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Begbroke.
What takes place when our technicians arrive around Begbroke
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside William Fletcher Primary School, near Begbroke Village Hall or on your own driveway. What liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers set the work and price. Nobody heads out before you've had the quote by phone.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes away unaided, however long it is left. A test is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Then our technicians start the engine and make sure it runs smoothly before we leave.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job after arrival. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It is worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Begbroke
Begbroke is a small village in Oxfordshire, situated approximately 5.5 miles northwest of Oxford. Begbroke sits in a low-lying area at an elevation of around 71 metres, near the Oxford Spires Park and the village of Yarnton. Begbroke has a population of around 553 people, predominantly living in semi-detached houses. Begbroke is also close to the settlement of Campsfield, and is within commuting distance of London, being about 55.5 miles from the capital.
Begbroke and Oxfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over OX postcodes, the vans covering Begbroke — a rural village — work the nearby places too, Yarnton and Campsfield among them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting OX5 1.
There's no need to move the car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Begbroke Wood, a side street near Saint Michael: our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Bladon Camp, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Begbroke people, the short version
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, wherever across Oxfordshire: keep the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.