Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Carbis Bay: Why It Happens
Keep the engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where your car stands in Carbis Bay, is usually what it takes if found before the engine runs. Reading in advance? Then what follows covers how it happens and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of current diesels on the roads around Carbis Bay and Halsetown carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. It's in the gap that the mistake lives.
Carbis Bay: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Enys Close, or on the way home in the car park at The Cornish Arms.
New-to-you vehicles are second, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
No part stops the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, be it in Longstone or bang in the heart of Carbis Bay.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Carbis Bay or a driveway over in Lelant. A few seconds, that's all.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside your diesel inlet? Then check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever around Cornwall the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Richmond Way, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Discover during the second or third step that the bottle went in the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Skip step five altogether.
Carbis Bay: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Do not start the motor: that is how the short order of things starts. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts your fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Texaco, another forecourt nearby or any other — the staff will normally help push your car clear, if you ask. If you are on your own drive in Carbis Bay, leave it where it stands.
Already started? Stop when it is sensible, then turn off. Carbis Bay lies over 50 miles from the M5; there, use the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Carbis Bay is less a job than a run of under 25 miles towards Truro, so say.
Carbis Bay: what takes place when our technicians get there
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St Uny CofE Academy, near Carbis Bay Wesley Methodist Church or on your own drive. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — which liquid, what amount, and whether it's run — so we ask. You get that price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter cleaned or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of your vehicle. Your engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our technicians head off.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour once our engineers are there. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Carbis Bay, briefly
Carbis Bay is a coastal village in Cornwall, situated on the southwestern tip of England, approximately 249.9 miles from London. Carbis Bay sits at an elevation of 87 metres, overlooking the sea and surrounded by nearby places such as Longstone, Trevarrack, and Trewartha. Carbis Bay is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its appeal as a residential location. Carbis Bay remains a popular spot, with its population of around 2287 people enjoying the coastal setting and proximity to Truro, 19 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Cornwall, Carbis Bay included
Trevarrack and Trewartha are among the places near Carbis Bay, a coastal village, that the same teams cover, throughout TR postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting TR26 2.
Shifting the vehicle isn't needed. Draining happens on the spot, whether a drive, a street by St Ives Archive, or a layby towards Richmond Gardens. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of St Anta and All Saints.
For Carbis Bay drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Cornwall, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.