Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Crumplehorn: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where your vehicle sits in Crumplehorn, is usually what it needs if found before your engine runs. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of current diesels on the roads around Crumplehorn and Porthallow carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Crumplehorn
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off A387 before work, or in the car park outside Crumplehorn Inn on the way home.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and once the tip begins, nothing halts it. Whether it happens in Polperro or the middle of Crumplehorn, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Crumplehorn or a driveway out in West Watergate. Seconds, that's all.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- On plenty of cars, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many motors mark which belongs in each inlet right there.
- The handbook says where it lives when your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver knows. Check as you pick up a hire car or company car — from Looe's car park, say — not when the warning appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Cornwall that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of The Coombes.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Crumplehorn already?
The short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — Texaco, another forecourt nearby or any other — the attendants will normally help roll the vehicle away, when you ask. If you're on your own driveway in Crumplehorn, leave it where it is.
Where your engine has been run by now, pull over safely and turn it off. The next junction means the place to leave when you are on the M5, over 50 miles from Crumplehorn. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Plymouth, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Crumplehorn.
When our engineers turn up around Crumplehorn, what occurs?
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Polperro Primary Academy, near Polperro Village Hall or on your own driveway. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — what liquid, which amount, and whether it's run — so we ask. During the call itself, you hear our price — ahead of dispatch.
Then your tank is cleared and the system rinsed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or replaced as needed. Your engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before we leave.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is fine on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. Paying is 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, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Crumplehorn and where it is
Crumplehorn is a small suburban area in Cornwall, situated near the coast and close to the neighbouring settlements of Polperro and Carey Park. Crumplehorn sits at a relatively low elevation of 28 metres, looking out towards the sea. Crumplehorn is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock, which is typical of many suburban areas in the region. Crumplehorn is located near the popular tourist destination of Polperro, and is within commuting distance of Plymouth.
Crumplehorn and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, Crumplehorn shares its vans surrounding areas — Carey Park, Brent — all the way through PL postcodes and the wider area around them. A postcode starting PL13 2 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. Anywhere it sits — near Polperro Model Village & Land of Legend, on a layby heading to Chapel Cliff, on a drive — that's where it gets cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Polperro Methodist Church? By a border? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
The short version for Crumplehorn drivers
Always, the cap; then, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the car off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across Cornwall.