How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Churchstow
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, leave your ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Churchstow. Reading in advance? In that case the rest explains how it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Not one fluid but two: that is how many newer diesels around Churchstow and Upton carry, with diesel feeding the engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Churchstow?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car 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 driveway off Woodlands before work, or in the car park at The Church House Inn on the way home.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: a new vehicle.
No part stops the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Churchstow or out in Hatch.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Churchstow forecourt or a drive out in Aveton Gifford, take a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Look for it.
- Can't see it beside your diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Ivybridge? Check with whoever drove it last before leaving, not once the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Devon that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Tithe Hill, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have found the filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Churchstow?
Brief order, then. First: your motor remains unstarted. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the car away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Asda Express, the Texaco or anywhere else. Your own driveway around Churchstow is the place it should stay.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M5, under 50 miles from Churchstow, that means the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Plymouth, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Churchstow.
Churchstow: what takes place when our technicians arrive
Anywhere the car has stopped, be it by West Alvington Church of England Academy, near Church Hall or on your own drive, our van comes to it. We ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, since those replies settle this work and our price. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. Hence it matters more. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Your engine is fired up next and checked to make sure it runs smoothly, all before our engineers go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we arrive, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Churchstow
Churchstow is a small village in Devon, situated inland at an elevation of 99 metres, and is located near the villages of Hatch, Venn, and Sorley. Churchstow has a population of around 571 people, and its housing stock is predominantly made up of detached homes. Churchstow is close to the city of Plymouth, which is approximately 15 miles away, and is about 181 miles west of London.
AdBlue drains across Devon, Churchstow included
Over TQ postcodes, our vans that cover Churchstow — a rural village — work the nearby locations too, Sorley and Venn included. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting TQ7 3.
Moving the car is not needed. The drain happens right there, be it a drive, a road near St Mary's Church, or a lay-by towards Pier's Wood. Assuming won't help behind All Saints, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
Churchstow motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere in Devon.