Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Eastcombe
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, leave your ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where your car stands in Eastcombe, is usually all it needs if found before your engine runs. Reading in advance? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels around Chalford, as well as Eastcombe, carry on two fluids; the engine takes only your diesel. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from a separate tank.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Eastcombe
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Middle Hill before work, or in the car park at Lamb Inn on the way home.
Unfamiliar vehicles are second, as well. Rentals, new cars and company cars place their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
No part stops the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Kitlye or the middle of Eastcombe: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, at a forecourt in Eastcombe or a drive out in France Lynch. A few seconds, that's all.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a hire car or company car — from Stroud's car park, say — rather than when the light appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Anywhere across Gloucestershire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Dr Crouch's Road, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've located the filler and read it.
- The two behind one flap? So make sure the cap on your diesel side stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look again — confirm your diesel cap remained shut throughout. Only then, start your car.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Step five stays off limits.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Eastcombe?
Do not start your engine: that's where the short order of things starts. Keep your ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it alone runs the pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — Murco, Holbrook Garage or another — the staff will usually help push the car away, when you ask. At home around Eastcombe? So your car stays where it is.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M5 — under 10 miles out of Eastcombe — at the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Gloucester, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Eastcombe.
Our arrival in Eastcombe, and what takes place next
By Eastcombe Primary School, close to Eastcombe Baptist Church or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Those replies settle this work and the quote, and so our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run. During the call itself, you are told the quote — ahead of anything else.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and nothing washes away unaided, however long it sits. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. After that our engineers fire it up and confirm it runs properly before we leave.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians get there, as long as the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Eastcombe itself
Eastcombe is a small village in Gloucestershire, situated inland at an elevation of 215 metres, approximately 9.5 miles from Gloucester. Eastcombe has a population of around 674 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Eastcombe is located near other villages such as Kitlye, Bussage, and Chalford Hill, and is about 88.6 miles west of London.
Eastcombe and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a rural village, Eastcombe shares its vans surrounding areas — Bussage, Chalford Hill — all the way through GL postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting GL6 7.
Your car stays put. Wherever it sits — near Eastcombe Village Hall, on a layby en route to Eastcombe Allotments, on a drive — that's where it gets emptied. Assuming won't help behind St Augustine of Canterbury, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and ask.
Eastcombe drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across Gloucestershire.