How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Combe Martin
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where the vehicle sits in Combe Martin, is normally what it takes if found before your engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page explains the why it happens and the ways to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels around Goosewell, like those in Combe Martin, carry on two liquids; your engine takes just the diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray treats the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of cars share a single flap for both, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt visit, week in, week out. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which filler to use. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place in Combe Martin
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the vehicle, and running dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Water Lane, perhaps outside Pack O'Cards on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second thing: an unfamiliar vehicle.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once started, carries on. Whether it happens in Berrynarbor or the middle of Combe Martin, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Berry Down Cross or a forecourt around Combe Martin, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- 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.
- The handbook says where it is if the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Barnstaple, 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 around Devon that is.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, engine off, and never rushed by Mill Meadow on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It works.
- Both under one flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel side stays closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look again — confirm your diesel cap stayed shut the whole time. After that, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Combe Martin already?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. Keep your ignition off as well, since on many diesels it by itself runs your pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the BWOC, the Total or anywhere else. On your own drive in Combe Martin? Then the car remains put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. On the M4, under 50 miles from Combe Martin, that means the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Swansea, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Combe Martin.
Our arrival in Combe Martin, and what occurs next
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Combe Martin Primary School, close to Baptist Church or on your own drive. Those answers determine the work and the price, so our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. That quote is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Then your tank is cleared and your system rinsed thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we go, our engineers start it and check that it's running properly.
If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Combe Martin
Combe Martin is a coastal village in Devon, situated on the south west coast of England, with a population of around 1113 people. Combe Martin has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Combe Martin sits at a low elevation of 28 metres, near the villages of Berrynarbor and Sterridge, and is approximately 169.6 miles from London. Combe Martin is close to the hill of Hagginton Hill, which overlooks the surrounding area.
AdBlue drains in Combe Martin and across Devon
As a coastal village, Combe Martin has the same vans as surrounding areas — Hagginton Hill, Sterridge — all the way across EX postcodes and the wider area beyond. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting EX34 0.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a drive, a road near Combe Martin Library, or a lay-by towards Cobbler's Park. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Combe Martin Village Hall.
In short, for Combe Martin people
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it is, anywhere around Devon: keep the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.