Camels Head: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done right where the car stands around Camels Head, is usually what it needs when caught before the motor runs. Here in advance? Then the rest covers why it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels around Ford, as well as Camels Head, run on two fluids; your engine gets just your diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Filling the diesel side at the pump happens constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think which cap to use. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Camels Head: how it happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Wolseley Road, or on the way home in the car park outside The Royal Navy Arms.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second thing: a strange motor.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour once it has started. Keyham or the middle of Camels Head: it is the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Camels Head forecourt or a drive over in Ham, spend a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask when you collect a rental or fleet car — from Keyham's car park, say — rather than once the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Devon that is.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Ainslie Terrace.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Stop once that tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently through the own spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Skip stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Camels Head already?
Brief list, then. Top of it: the engine stays off. Keep the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it by itself runs your pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the Gulf or the Esso, ask the staff to help push the car away from the pump. At home around Camels Head? So the vehicle remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. On the M5, under 50 miles from Camels Head, that means the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Plymouth, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Camels Head.
What occurs when we arrive in Camels Head
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Weston Mill Community Primary Academy, near Redivivus or on your own drive. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what fluid, which amount, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. That price comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears away unaided, however long it is left. The filter flushed or, where it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a check of your car. We don't leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our technicians arrive, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Camels Head, for a moment
Camels Head is a coastal suburban area in Devon, situated near the city of Plymouth and close to the neighbouring areas of Keyham, Weston Mill, and North Prospect. Camels Head has a population of approximately 7924 residents and is characterized by predominantly terraced housing. Camels Head is located at a low elevation of around 9 metres above sea level, reflecting its coastal setting. Camels Head is part of the larger Plymouth urban area, yet maintains its own distinct identity.
AdBlue drains around Camels Head and across Devon
As a residential suburb, Camels Head has the same vans as surrounding places — Weston Mill, North Prospect — right through PL postcodes and the wider area beyond. Quote a postcode beginning PL2 2, and our van arrives fastest.
Your car stays where it is. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Help for Heroes, a lay-by on the way to Tennis Courts, a drive. Guessing won't help behind St Thomas the Apostle, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
Camels Head motorists: the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you've read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave the vehicle switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Devon.