Charlton Marshall: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. In Charlton Marshall, catching it before your engine turns normally means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Plenty of newer diesels in West End, like those in Charlton Marshall, carry on two liquids; the motor gets only your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Charlton Marshall
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a driveway off The Close before work, or in the car park outside Charlton Inn heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and once it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar vehicles are next, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, carries on. Whether it happens in Charlton on the Hill or the middle of Charlton Marshall, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Charlton Marshall or a drive out in Birch Close. Seconds, no more.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- On many vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook says where it is when your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Holton Heath.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere around Dorset the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of River Lane.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read 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.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third step that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Charlton Marshall?
Do not start the engine: that is where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Tesco, Esso or any forecourt will usually help to push your car away if asked. If you are on your own driveway around Charlton Marshall, leave the car where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next exit is where to come off if you're on the M27, under 25 miles from Charlton Marshall. Distance counts — a quick hop across Charlton Marshall makes a smaller job than heading under 25 miles to Salisbury — so say about how far it went.
Charlton Marshall: what occurs when our technicians turn up
Outside Spetisbury CofE Primary School, close to Charlton Marshall Village Hall or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, because the answers settle this work and our price. You get that price on the phone, before anybody heads out.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, after 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 does not wash out on its own. After your filter is cleaned — or replaced, where required — fresh diesel is added, and finally your vehicle is tested. After that our engineers start the engine and make sure it runs properly before we leave.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians get there, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Charlton Marshall and where it is
Charlton Marshall is a village in Dorset, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of around 32 metres. Charlton Marshall lies near several other small settlements, including Charlton on the Hill, Newtown, and Littleton, and is approximately 22 miles from the city of Salisbury. Charlton Marshall has a population of around 845 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Charlton Marshall is located in the South West region of England, about 98 miles from London.
AdBlue drains around Charlton Marshall and across Dorset
Over DT postcodes, the vans that cover Charlton Marshall — a village — work the surrounding places too, Littleton and Newtown among them. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting DT11 9.
Moving your car is not necessary. Wherever it sits — near St Mary's, in a lay-by en route to Charlton Beeches, at home — that is where it gets cleared. Tricky to explain, like the back of St John the Baptist? Close to a border? Checking beats assuming, and so phone.
In short, for Charlton Marshall people
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, anywhere in Dorset: switch the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.