AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bere Regis: How It Happens and How to Stop It
Pause here for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Bere Regis, catching it before the engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. Here in advance? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many newer diesels around Lane End, as well as Bere Regis, run on two liquids; your engine gets only the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas to clean it.
Separate tanks, different fillers. 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. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The error lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Bere Regis
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off Snow Hill before work, or in the car park at Drax Arms heading home: that's where the rushed 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 follows.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. It's a few seconds, whether in Shitterton or right in the heart of Bere Regis.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these first, at a forecourt around Bere Regis or a drive out in Throop. Seconds, no more.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Check when you collect a hire car or company car — from Wool's car park, say — not once the warning appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Dorset that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Manor Farm Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly using its built-in spout.
- Close the cap, and look once more — making sure your diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. After that, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bere Regis?
Don't start your engine: that is how the short order of things starts. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, just where fuel is taken from.
The attendants at Shell, BP or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the vehicle away if asked. Your own driveway around Bere Regis is where it should stay.
Already run? Stop once it's safe, then switch off. Bere Regis lies under 50 miles from the M27; on it, use the first junction. Mileage counts — a short hop across Bere Regis is a smaller job than heading under 50 miles to Salisbury — so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our technicians turn up in Bere Regis, what occurs?
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Bere Regis Primary and Preschool, near St John the Baptist or on your own drive. Those replies settle the work and the quote, and so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run. The price is given on the call, before any van leaves.
The system is then purged thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals form, some metals corrode, and none of that washes away on its own, however long it is left. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. The motor is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians head off.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor hasn't run take roughly half an hour once we arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Bere Regis and where it is
Bere Regis is a village situated in the Dorset countryside, near the riverside and surrounded by rolling hills. Bere Regis has a population of around 1320 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Bere Regis is located near several smaller settlements, including Shitterton and Turners Puddle, and is within commuting distance of Salisbury. Bere Regis sits at an elevation of 47 metres, relatively close to the south coast of England.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Bere Regis included
Bere Regis is a village, and the vans that cover it also work the places around it, Hollow Oak and Turners Puddle among them, across the BH postcode area. Fastest of all: give a BH20 7 postcode to our van.
Moving your car is not needed. The drain takes place right there, whether a drive, a road near Bere Regis Village Hall, or a lay-by on the way to Plantation. Guessing won't help at the back of Congregational Chapel, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
In short, for Bere Regis drivers
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Dorset, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.