How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Elmdale
Leave the motor and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain and a full flush, done right where the vehicle stands in Elmdale, is normally all it needs when found before the motor runs. Reading in advance? In that case what follows explains why it happens and what to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads round Elmdale and Howton carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each filling station call-out, again and again. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Elmdale?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off Elmdale before work, or in the car park at The Temple Bar Inn heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Callowside or the heart of Elmdale: it is the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Elmdale forecourt or a drive over in Abbey Dore, spend a few seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many vehicles show what goes in which inlet just there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Hereford? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever around Herefordshire, use this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Elm Green Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at the second or third step that AdBlue went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Do not go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Elmdale?
Short list, then. First: your engine remains unstarted. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — Murco, another forecourt nearby or any other — the attendants will normally help roll your car away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Elmdale.
Already started? Pull over once it's sensible, then switch off. Come off the M50 — under 15 miles out of Elmdale — at the next exit. A short hop across Elmdale is a smaller job than a run towards Hereford, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When our engineers turn up around Elmdale, what happens?
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Ewyas Harold Primary School, near Ewyas Harold Baptist Church or on your own drive. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — which fluid, what amount, and if it has run — so we ask. During the phone call itself, you hear the quote — before dispatch.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system purged thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter cleaned or, where needed, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. We don't go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once we get there, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Elmdale
Elmdale is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Herefordshire, with a relatively low elevation of 79 metres. Elmdale lies near several smaller settlements, including Callowside, Ewyas Harold, and Pontrilas, and is around 10 miles from the city of Hereford. Elmdale has a population of approximately 589 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Elmdale is also within commuting distance to larger cities, with London being around 122 miles away.
Elmdale and Herefordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over HR postcodes, the teams covering Elmdale — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Pontrilas and Ewyas Harold included. A postcode starting HR2 0 gets the van to you fastest.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Callow Hill Wood, a side street near Ewyas Harold Village Sign: our engineers drain the car where it sits. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Ewyas Harold Memorial Hall, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
The short version for Elmdale motorists
First, the cap; then, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it is, wherever in Herefordshire: switch the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.