Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cuckoos Corner: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your engine hasn't run, it's drained and fully cleaned where the vehicle sits in Cuckoos Corner. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Cuckoos Corner and Upper Froyle carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
There is a filler on each tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place in Cuckoos Corner?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Haste comes from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Bonhams Close, or on the way home in the car park at The White Hart Inn.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
No part halts the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Holybourne or the middle of Cuckoos Corner, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Cuckoos Corner forecourt or a driveway out in Wyck, spend a few seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- On many cars, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Alton, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Hampshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of London Road, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Finish when your tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Never carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Cuckoos Corner already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Keep the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it alone starts the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the BP or the another forecourt nearby, ask the staff to help push your car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Cuckoos Corner.
When your motor has run by now, stop somewhere safe then turn the vehicle off. On the M3, under 10 miles from Cuckoos Corner, that means the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Winchester, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Cuckoos Corner.
Our arrival around Cuckoos Corner, and what occurs next
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Andrews' Endowed Church of England Primary School, close to Holy Rood or on your own drive. Both the work and the price rest on three replies — which liquid, which amount, and if it has run — so our technicians ask. During the phone call itself, you are told the quote — ahead of anything else.
Then the tank is emptied and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing washes out unaided, however long it is left. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Your engine is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs properly, all before our technicians head off.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our engineers arrive, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Cuckoos Corner and where it is
Cuckoos Corner is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Hampshire, with a mix of detached housing and a population of around 923 residents. Cuckoos Corner sits at an elevation of 99 metres, near the cities of Winchester and the surrounding villages of Holybourne and Neatham. Cuckoos Corner is located within commuting distance of London, approximately 42 miles away, and is also close to Anstey. Cuckoos Corner remains a residential community with a rural feel, despite its proximity to urban centres.
Cuckoos Corner and Hampshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Cuckoos Corner is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the places near it, Neatham and Anstey among them, across the GU postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting GU34 4.
No need to move your car. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Cannon's Copse, a side street close to Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses: we drain the car where it stands. Assuming won't help behind Holybourne Theatre, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
In short, for Cuckoos Corner motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Hampshire.