AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in East Buckland: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done right where the vehicle sits around East Buckland, is normally all it needs if found before your motor runs. Reading before the event? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your motor — yet many newer diesels seen about East Buckland and Charles hold another liquid too. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh them, from its own tank.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Plenty of motors have a single flap for the two, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Much less often, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It's in that gap that the mistake happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in East Buckland: how it takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off Brayley Hill before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and if it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
No part halts the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, whether in Elwell or right in the centre of East Buckland.
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 drive in Newtown or a forecourt in East Buckland.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- On plenty of motors, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Umberleigh? Check with whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — wherever you are across Devon — a routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Catriage Hill.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The two behind a single flap? So confirm the cap on the diesel filler stays shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Finish once that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour slowly through the built-in spout.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Step five stays out.
East Buckland: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief list, then. Top of that: your motor remains off. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the JJ Garages, the Esso or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around East Buckland.
Already started? Pull over once it is safe, then switch off. On the M5, under 50 miles from East Buckland, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Crossing East Buckland is smaller a job than a trip of under 50 miles to Exeter, so tell us.
What takes place when our engineers get there in East Buckland
Outside Filleigh Community Primary School, close to St Michael's Church or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. The replies decide this work and the quote, and so we ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
The fuel system is then flushed thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Once the fuel filter is flushed — or replaced, if required — fresh diesel is added, and then the vehicle gets tested. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About East Buckland
East Buckland is a small hamlet in inland Devon, situated at an elevation of 191 metres and comprising predominantly detached housing. East Buckland lies near the villages of Elwell and West Buckland, and is approximately 28.5 miles from the city of Exeter. East Buckland is a rural community with a population of around 505 people, set within the rolling countryside of the South West region. East Buckland is also relatively distant from London, at a distance of 165.5 miles.
AdBlue drains across Devon, East Buckland included
As a rural hamlet, East Buckland shares its vans nearby areas — Charles Bottom, West Buckland — all the way through EX postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Fastest of all: quote a EX32 0 postcode to our van.
The vehicle does not need to move. Anywhere it stands — near St Peter, on a layby en route to Hoyle's Wood, on a drive — that's where it is drained. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St John The Baptist, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The short version for East Buckland drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it stands, wherever across Devon: keep it off then call 0333 366 0103.