How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Dobwalls
Pause here for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out right where your car stands around Dobwalls, is normally what it needs when found before the engine runs. Here before the event? Then the rest covers how it happens and what to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels around Treburgie Water, as well as Dobwalls, carry on two fluids; the engine gets just the diesel. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Dobwalls: how it occurs
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Havett Road before work, or in the car park outside The Highwayman heading home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after begun, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Dobwalls or out in East Tuelmenna.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Be it a Dobwalls forecourt or a driveway out in Doublebois, take a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- The handbook shows which it is when the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Coombe.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever around Cornwall, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Higher Meadow, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Dobwalls?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, just where fuel is taken from.
The staff at Heltor, BP or any forecourt will normally help to push the car away when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Dobwalls.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next exit is where to come off if you're on the M5, under 50 miles from Dobwalls. About how far did it go? Hopping across Dobwalls is smaller a job than a trip of under 25 miles towards Plymouth, and so say.
Our arrival around Dobwalls, and what occurs next
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, whether by Dobwalls Community Primary School, near Dobwalls United Church or at home, the van travels to it. The answers decide the work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of that washes away unaided, however long it sits. The filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of the car. Then we fire it up and make sure it runs properly before leaving.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run take about half an hour after we arrive. No money upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Dobwalls, for a moment
Dobwalls is a village in Cornwall, situated inland at an elevation of 137 metres, and is located near several smaller settlements including East Tuelmenna and Twelvewoods. Dobwalls has a population of around 1683 people, and its housing stock is predominantly semi-detached. Dobwalls is close to the city of Plymouth, which is approximately 17.5 miles away, and is about 204.1 miles west of London. Dobwalls sits within a wider rural area, with Treburgie nearby.
Dobwalls and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Dobwalls is a rural village, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Twelvewoods and Treburgie among them, across the PL postcode area. Give a postcode that starts PL14 6, and our van arrives fastest.
Moving your car is not necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Hoburne Holiday Park Doublebois, a side street near Brunel original viaduct supports: our engineers drain the vehicle where it stands. Assuming won't help at the back of Connon Chapel, on a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
For Dobwalls people, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Cornwall, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.