AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Dumbleton: Why It Occurs and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, keep your ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Dumbleton, finding it before the motor runs usually means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your motor — yet plenty of newer diesels driven about Dumbleton and Grafton hold another fluid as well. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have both together behind one flap. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person 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 Dumbleton?
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
Hurry comes from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Main Street, or on the way home in the car park at the pub in the village.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, keeps on. Whether it occurs in Wormington or the middle of Dumbleton, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Dumbleton forecourt or a drive out in Alderton, take a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Many cars fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many motors show what belongs in which filler just there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check as you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Evesham's car park, say — rather than once the light appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Wherever across Gloucestershire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Blacksmiths Lane, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly using its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Never carry on to step five.
Dumbleton: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Texaco, ask the staff to help roll the car away from the pump. On your own drive around Dumbleton? So your car stays put.
Where your motor has been run already, pull over safely and turn the car off. Come off the M5 — under 10 miles out of Dumbleton — at the next exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Dumbleton is less a job than a run of under 25 miles to Worcester, so say.
What happens when our engineers arrive around Dumbleton
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Sedgeberrow CofE First School, close to Dumbleton Village Hall or on your own drive. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — what liquid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so we ask. Nobody sets off until you've had the price by phone.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. We do not leave until it has been started and is running properly.
Unstarted cars usually mean a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Dumbleton, for a moment
Dumbleton is a small village in Gloucestershire, situated in the south of the county near the Worcestershire border. Dumbleton lies in a rural area, approximately 69 metres above sea level, and is surrounded by nearby villages such as Wormington and Sedgeberrow. Dumbleton has a population of around 594 people, with a predominance of detached housing. Dumbleton is located about 15 miles from Worcester and 87 miles from London.
Dumbleton and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
As a rural village, Dumbleton shares its vans nearby places — Sedgeberrow, Ashton under Hill — right through WR postcodes and the surrounding area around them. A postcode starting WR11 7 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle stays where it is. Anywhere it sits — beside Drinking Fountain, in a layby heading to The Belt, at home — that is where it is cleared. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of St Peter's Church.
For Dumbleton drivers, the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Gloucestershire.