How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Compton
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out right where the vehicle stands around Compton, is usually all it takes if found before the engine runs. Here in advance? In that case what follows covers how it happens and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's what plenty of newer diesels around Compton and Twyford carry, with diesel for your motor. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Compton?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Shepherds Lane, or outside The Bridge Inn on the way home after work.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is the second thing: an unfamiliar vehicle.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and after the pour starts, nothing halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Compton or out in South Down.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Otterbourne or a forecourt around Compton.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — many motors mark which belongs in each filler just there.
- The handbook says which it is when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver will know. Ask as you pick up a rental or company car — from Shawford's car park, perhaps — rather than once the light appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever across Hampshire, follow this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of M3.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently through the own spout.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays out.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Compton?
Don't start your motor: that is where the short order of things begins. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — Sainsbury's, Murco or another — the staff will usually help push the car clear, if you ask. At home around Compton? Then the vehicle stays where it is.
Where your motor has run already, pull over safely then turn the car off. On the M3, under a mile from Compton, that means the next junction. Distance counts — a quick hop across Compton makes a smaller job than driving under 5 miles to Winchester — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Compton: what occurs when we turn up
Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Compton All Saints Church of England Primary School, close to All Saints or on your own drive. The answers decide the work and our quote, so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. The price comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Then your tank is drained and the system flushed thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. Hence it counts more. Once your filter has been flushed — or renewed, if required — clean diesel goes in, and finally your vehicle gets tested. Your engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive, provided the engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Compton, for a moment
Compton is a village situated on the River Itchen in Hampshire, with a mix of old and new buildings, including many detached homes. Compton lies near the city of Winchester, about 3 miles to the south, and is surrounded by other small villages such as Shawford and Compton End. Compton has a population of around 799 people and is located at an elevation of approximately 70 metres above sea level. Compton is also relatively close to London, being about 62 miles to the southwest.
AdBlue drains in Compton and across Hampshire
As a village, Compton has the same vans as nearby places — Shawford, Compton End — right through SO postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting SO21 2 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to shift the car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Shawford Down, a side street close to Compton Place: our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Twyford Community Centre, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In short, for Compton people
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere across Hampshire.