AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Christian Malford: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
Pause here for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Christian Malford, catching it before the engine runs normally leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Here in advance? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Not one fluid but two: that's what many newer diesels around Christian Malford and Upper Town carry, with diesel feeding your engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Filling the diesel side at the pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
Christian Malford: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Station Road, or on the way home in the car park at The Mermaid.
Unfamiliar cars are second, too. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, carries on. Whether it happens in Thornend or the middle of Christian Malford, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Christian Malford or a driveway out in Foxham. A few seconds, no more.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — many cars mark what goes in which filler just there.
- Can't find it beside the diesel filler? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Chippenham.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere you are in Wiltshire — a simple routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of The Nurseries.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Stop once the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently through the built-in spout.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Christian Malford?
Brief order, then. First: the engine stays off. Keep your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it alone starts the pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, BP or another — the attendants will usually help roll your car clear, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Christian Malford.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Leave the M4 — under a mile out of Christian Malford — at the next junction. Mileage matters — a short hop across Christian Malford makes a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Bath — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Christian Malford, and what happens next
By Christian Malford CofE Primary School, close to All Saints or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run, since those replies decide this work and our quote. You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Then your tank is drained and the system rinsed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more here than with petrol. A test is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Before we leave, our technicians start it and check that it's running properly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our engineers arrive, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Christian Malford itself
Christian Malford is a village in Wiltshire, situated on the banks of the River Avon at an elevation of 56 metres. Christian Malford lies near the villages of Thornend and Sutton Benger, and is approximately 15.8 miles from the city of Bath. Christian Malford has a population of around 586 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Christian Malford is also within commuting distance of London, being around 82.8 miles to the west of the capital.
Christian Malford and Wiltshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout SN postcodes, the vans that cover Christian Malford — a village — work the surrounding locations too, Sutton Benger and Brookside included. Fastest of all: give a SN15 4 postcode to our van.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Draining takes place right there, whether a drive, a road near Sutton Benger Village Hall, or a lay-by towards Tilson Wood. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of All Saints Church.
Christian Malford people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it stands, wherever in Wiltshire: keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103.