How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Charlton on the Hill
Stop here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out right where the car sits around Charlton on the Hill, is usually all it needs when found before your engine runs. Reading in advance? Then what follows covers how it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many modern diesels on the roads about Charlton on the Hill and Lower Blandford St Mary carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both together under one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. That gap is where the mistake lives.
Charlton on the Hill: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Charlton on the Hill, or heading home in the car park at Charlton Inn.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
No part halts the pour 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 takes a few seconds, be it out in Newtown or right in the centre of Charlton on the Hill.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Birch Close or a forecourt in Charlton on the Hill.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- On many motors, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Holton Heath, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Dorset that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Cereleton Park, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. 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.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Stage five is out.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Charlton on the Hill?
Do not start your motor: that is how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of blending — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Tesco, Esso or any forecourt will normally help to push your car clear if asked. Your own drive around Charlton on the Hill is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. Come off the M27 — under 25 miles out of Charlton on the Hill — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Salisbury, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Charlton on the Hill.
What takes place when our technicians arrive in Charlton on the Hill
By Spetisbury CofE Primary School, near St Mary's or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three answers — what fluid, which quantity, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. Nobody heads out before you have heard our quote over the phone.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that counts 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. Filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. The motor is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
Unrun vehicles usually need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Charlton on the Hill, briefly
Charlton on the Hill is a suburban area in Dorset, situated near the River Stour and close to the nearby settlements of Newtown and Charlton Marshall. Charlton on the Hill has a population of around 1084 people and is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock. Charlton on the Hill is located near the city of Salisbury, which is approximately 22 miles away, and is also within commuting distance of other local towns. Charlton on the Hill sits at an elevation of 55 metres above sea level, in a riverside setting that is typical of many areas in the South West region.
AdBlue drains around Charlton on the Hill and across Dorset
Over DT postcodes, the vans covering Charlton on the Hill — a residential suburb — work the nearby locations too, Littleton and Charlton Marshall among them. Quote a postcode beginning DT11 9, and the van gets there quickest.
No need to move your car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Charlton Beeches, a side street close to Charlton Marshall Village Hall: our technicians drain the vehicle where it is. Guessing doesn't help at the back of St Mary, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
Charlton on the Hill motorists: the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere around Dorset.