Exwick: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave your engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Caught before your engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Exwick. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it takes place and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel feeds the engine — yet many modern diesels seen around Exwick and Exeter carry another liquid too. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has one filler of its own. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Exwick: how it occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Haste follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Exwick Road, or on the way home in the car park outside The Village Inn.
New-to-you motors are second, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars place their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Exwick or out in Foxhayes.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in St Thomas or a forecourt around Exwick, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many cars carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? Then check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Exeter St Davids.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, wherever around Devon, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of New Valley Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- Both behind a single flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel filler stays shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, shut the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Exwick already?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Esso, the Sainsbury's or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Exwick.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Leave the M5 — under 5 miles out of Exwick — at the first exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Exwick is smaller a job than a trip of under a mile towards Exeter, so say.
Exwick: what happens when our technicians turn up
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Exwick Heights Primary School, close to St. Andrew or on your own drive. Which fluid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our technicians ask since those replies decide the work and price. The quote comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once your tank is cleared. 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 here than with petrol. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Before we go, our engineers fire it up and make sure that it is running properly.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Exwick, briefly
Exwick is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Exeter in Devon, sitting alongside the River Exe at an elevation of around 14 metres. Exwick is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing and is situated close to nearby places such as Foxhayes and Redhills. Exwick is a relatively small community, with a population of approximately 5917 residents, and is within walking distance of Exeter city centre. Exwick benefits from its proximity to the city while also having its own distinct identity.
AdBlue drains around Exwick and across Devon
Exwick is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Redhills and Nadderwater among them, across the EX postcode area. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting EX4 2.
The vehicle remains put. Wherever it sits — near Exwick Parish Hall, on a lay-by heading to Bury Meadow Park, at home — that is where it gets drained. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Steve Curley, ring and ask instead of assuming.
For Exwick motorists, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it is, anywhere in Devon: switch it off then call 0333 366 0103.