AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Churchend: Why It Happens and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, keep your ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Churchend, finding it before your motor turns usually leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels in Calcot Row, as well as Churchend, run on two liquids; your motor takes only the diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
There is a filler for every tank. Plenty of cars have a single flap for both, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what cap it needs. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Churchend: how it takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Dunsfold Road before work, or in the car park outside Tylers Rest on the way home.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it takes place in Tilehurst or the middle of Churchend, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Southcote or a forecourt around Churchend, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it beside the diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Tilehurst? Check with whoever drove it last before you set off, rather than once the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Berkshire that is.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and not rushed by Routh Lane at the roadside.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have found your filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap never came off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Churchend?
Don't start the engine: that's where the short order of things starts. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so leave it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Asda, Esso or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car clear if you ask. If you are on your own driveway around Churchend, leave it where it stands.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then switch off. The next exit is the place to come off if you're on the M4, under 3 miles from Churchend. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Oxford, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Churchend.
When our engineers get there in Churchend, what takes place?
Outside Moorlands Primary School, close to Reading LDS Church or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — what fluid, what amount, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. The price is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Then that tank is cleared and your system rinsed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing washes away on its own, no matter how long it is left. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We don't go until it has been fired up and is running properly.
If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Churchend itself
Churchend is a suburban area in Berkshire, situated inland at an elevation of 93 metres, and forms part of the larger urban landscape around Reading. Churchend is located near Tilehurst and Little Heath, with Horncastle also in the vicinity. Churchend has a population of approximately 6369 residents, predominantly living in semi-detached housing.
Churchend and Berkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout RG postcodes, the teams covering Churchend — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Little Heath and Horncastle among them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting RG30 4.
Moving the vehicle is not necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Churchend Recreation Ground, a side street near Meadway Sports Centre: we drain the vehicle where it sits. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Saint Michael's Church Hall, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Churchend motorists: the short version
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere in Berkshire.