How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Broom Hill
Pause here a minute when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Broom Hill. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to the motor — yet plenty of modern diesels seen about Broom Hill and St Annes Park carry another liquid too. Your exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to fresh them, from its own tank.
Every tank has a filler of its own. 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. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think which cap it needs. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens in Broom Hill
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off St Helier Avenue before work, or in the car park outside The Good Intent heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, keeps on. Conham or the heart of Broom Hill: it is the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in St Annes or a forecourt around Broom Hill.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- On plenty of motors, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Lawrence Hill? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever across Bristol, use this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Fermaine Avenue.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, confirm it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Finish once that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently using its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Step five is off limits.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Broom Hill?
Short order, then. Top of that: the engine stays unstarted. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Texaco or the Sainsbury's, ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. If you're on your own drive around Broom Hill, leave the car where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. On the M32, under 3 miles from Broom Hill, that means the next junction. Distance counts — a quick hop across Broom Hill is a smaller job than heading under 3 miles to Bristol — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Broom Hill, and what happens next
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Broomhill Infant & Nursery School, near St Peter's Methodist Church or on your own driveway. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — which liquid, which amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. That price is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Then your tank is cleared and the system flushed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a check of your car. We do not go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine hasn't run take about half an hour once our engineers are there. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It's worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Broom Hill
Broom Hill is a suburban area located on the riverside in Bristol, with an elevation of 63 metres above sea level. Broom Hill sits approximately 2.8 miles from the city centre of Bristol, near neighbouring areas such as Conham, Brislington, and Kingswood. Broom Hill is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting the typical architectural style of the region. Broom Hill is also situated about 103.8 miles west of London, making it a relatively accessible suburb.
AdBlue drains across Bristol, Broom Hill included
Brislington and Kingswood are among the towns around Broom Hill, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout BS postcodes. Fastest of all: give a BS4 4 postcode to our van.
Moving your car isn't needed. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Woodcroft Community Orchard, a side street close to Saint Luke The Evangelist: our engineers drain the car where it is. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Wick Road Library? Close to a county line? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
The short version for Broom Hill motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere around Bristol.