How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Exminster
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done right where your vehicle sits around Exminster, is normally what it needs when caught before the motor runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Many modern diesels on the roads around Exminster and Kenn carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh it, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Some cars keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both side by side behind one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually comes from a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which cap to use. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs in Exminster
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Main Road, or on the way home in the car park outside Stowey Arms.
Unfamiliar vehicles come second, too. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Exminster or out in Lower Wear.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Kennford or a forecourt in Exminster.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel inlet? In that case check below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Topsham, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever across Devon the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor stopped, and never in a rush by Milbury Lane on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located the filler and read it.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Finish once the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently through its own spout.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Exminster?
Don't start your engine: that is how the short order of things begins. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the base rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Texaco, Shell or another forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the car clear when asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Exminster.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M5 — under a mile out of Exminster — at the next junction. Mileage matters — a short hop across Exminster makes a smaller job than driving under 5 miles towards Exeter — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Exminster, and what takes place next
Our van comes to the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, near St Martin of Tours Parish Church, or by Exminster Community Primary. The replies settle the work and the price, so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. On the call itself, you hear the quote — ahead of dispatch.
Then that tank is emptied and your system rinsed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals build up, some metals corrode, and nothing washes away unaided, however long it is left. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; then a check of your car. The engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our engineers go.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run take about half an hour after our technicians arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Exminster and where it is
Exminster is a coastal village in Devon, situated near the Exe Estuary and close to the city of Exeter. Exminster has a population of around 2540 people and is characterised by detached housing. Exminster sits at a low elevation of approximately 20 metres above sea level, with nearby places including Lower Wear, Topsham, and Countess Wear.
AdBlue drains around Exminster and across Devon
Over EX postcodes, the teams that cover Exminster — a coastal village — work the nearby spots too, Countess Wear and Topsham among them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting EX6 8.
No need to shift your car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Victory Hall, a lay-by on the way to Spurfield, a drive. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Exminster Methodist Church, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The short version for Exminster motorists
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout Devon.