AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Derry Hill: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine has not turned, it is drained and thoroughly purged where your car is around Derry Hill. Not happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Not one fluid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels around Derry Hill and Pewsham carry, with diesel for the engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of cars have a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Derry Hill?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Kerry Close before work, or in the car park at Lansdowne Arms on the way home.
Unfamiliar cars are second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
No part stops the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it happens in Studley or the middle of Derry Hill, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Ratford or a forecourt around Derry Hill.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Chippenham, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, wherever across Wiltshire, use this routine.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Shelburne Way.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located your filler and read it.
- Both behind one flap? So make sure the cap on your diesel side stays shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Derry Hill?
Brief order, then. First: the engine stays off. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it by itself runs your pump. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Sovereign Service Station or the Esso, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. On your own drive around Derry Hill? So the car remains put.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M4, under 10 miles from Derry Hill, that means the next junction. A short hop across Derry Hill is a smaller job than a run towards Bath, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our technicians arrive in Derry Hill
Outside Derry Hill Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, close to Christchurch or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — what fluid, what quantity, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. No one sets off until you have had our quote by phone.
The fuel system is then rinsed thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. That is why it matters more. Filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of the car. Before leaving, we start the car and confirm that it is running smoothly.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Derry Hill and where it is
Derry Hill is a village in Wiltshire, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of 132 metres, with a mix of detached housing and rural scenery. Derry Hill lies near the villages of Studley and Buck Hill, and is close to the larger settlement of Stanley. Derry Hill is located 13.3 miles from the city of Bath and 83.4 miles from London, making it a rural community with access to urban centres.
AdBlue drains across Wiltshire, Derry Hill included
Derry Hill is a village, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Buck Hill and Stanley among them, across the SN postcode area. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SN11 9.
No need to move your car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Studley Methodist Church, a lay-by on the way to Derry Wood, a drive. Assuming won't help at the back of Bowood House, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
For Derry Hill drivers, the short version
First, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Wiltshire.