Dorchester: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Pause here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out right where the vehicle sits around Dorchester, is normally all it takes when found before your engine runs. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of current diesels on the roads around Dorchester and Little Wittenham carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have both together behind one flap. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Dorchester?
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Queen Street, or on the way home in the car park at The George Hotel.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and once the tip begins, no part halts it. Whether it occurs in Bridge End or the middle of Dorchester, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Burcot or a forecourt in Dorchester, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Culham? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across Oxfordshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of High Street, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find during the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Leave out step five entirely.
Dorchester: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the engine. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of 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 the tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Murco or the BP, ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. On your own drive around Dorchester? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
Where the engine has run by now, stop safely then switch it off. Dorchester lies under 10 miles from the Wheatley Spur; there, take the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Oxford, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Dorchester.
Dorchester: what occurs when our technicians arrive
By Dorchester St Birinus Church of England School, close to Dorchester Abbey Museum and Gift Shop or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — which fluid, which quantity, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. That quote comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. That is why it matters more. Once the fuel filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally your vehicle gets tested. The engine is fired up next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers go.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once we arrive, as long as your motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Dorchester itself
Dorchester is a small village in Oxfordshire, situated on the banks of the River Thames at an elevation of 52 metres. Dorchester lies approximately 8 miles south of Oxford and 45 miles west of London, with nearby places including Bridge End, Overy, and Meadside. Dorchester has a population of around 733 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Dorchester is a quiet riverside community with a strong sense of rural identity.
AdBlue drains about Dorchester, and Oxfordshire beyond
Dorchester is a village, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Overy and Meadside among them, across the OX postcode area. Quote a postcode that starts OX10 7, and the van gets there fastest.
The vehicle remains where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Church Farm, a side street near Dorchester Abbey: our engineers drain the car where it is. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St Birinus? Close to a border? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
The short version for Dorchester motorists
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Oxfordshire.