Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Dowlish Ford
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. In Dowlish Ford, finding it before your motor turns normally leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Not one fluid but two: that's how many modern diesels near Dowlish Ford and Townsend run, with diesel feeding your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler for each tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on every forecourt call-out, again and again. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
Dowlish Ford: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Greenway, or on the way home in the car park outside The Royal Oak.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's the second thing: a strange vehicle.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and once the pour begins, no part halts it. Moolham or the middle of Dowlish Ford: it takes the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Knott Oak or a forecourt around Dowlish Ford.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there 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.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Crewkerne.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — anywhere it is around Somerset — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Long Close, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've located 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 it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm the diesel filler stayed shut throughout. After that, start the car.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Stage five is out.
Dowlish Ford: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Short list, then. Top of it: your motor remains off. Leave your ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it alone runs your pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the base rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — Tesco, Texaco or any other — the attendants will normally help push the vehicle away, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Dowlish Ford.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M5, under 10 miles from Dowlish Ford, that means the next junction. A short hop across Dowlish Ford is a smaller job than a run towards Wells, under 25 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when our engineers turn up around Dowlish Ford
Wherever your car has stopped, whether by Herne View Church of England Primary, near Ilminster Library or at home, our van travels to it. Both the work and the price rest on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and whether it's run — so we ask. Nobody sets off until you've had the quote by phone.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: crystals form, some metals are attacked, and none of it clears out on its own, however long it sits. Once the filter is flushed — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally your vehicle gets tested. Next our technicians fire it up and check it runs smoothly before we go.
Unrun cars usually mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is safe on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Dowlish Ford
Dowlish Ford is a village in Somerset, situated near the River Isle and several lakes, at an elevation of 56 metres. Dowlish Ford lies approximately 23 miles from Wells and 127 miles from London, making it a rural community with some commuter links. Dowlish Ford has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. Dowlish Ford is surrounded by other small villages, including Moolham and Ilminster, and is near the Somerset coast.
Dowlish Ford and Somerset: AdBlue drains across the area
As a village, Dowlish Ford shares its vans nearby areas — Ilminster, Sea — all the way across TA postcodes and the wider area around them. A postcode starting TA19 0 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to shift the vehicle. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Dillington Park, a side street close to Church of St Mary: we drain it where it is. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Ile Youth & Community Centre.
For Dowlish Ford people, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Somerset.