Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Eynsham
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done right where the car stands in Eynsham, is usually all it takes when caught before the engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the reasons it takes place and the how to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels around Barnard Gate, as well as Eynsham, run on two fluids; the engine gets just the diesel. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have both together behind one flap. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Eynsham
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Thames Street before work, or in the car park outside Jolly Sportsman heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and once it is empty, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second thing: a strange car.
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 after it has started. Swinford or the heart of Eynsham: it takes the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these first, on a forecourt in Eynsham or a driveway over in The Green. A few seconds, no more.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it lives when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Hanborough.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Oxfordshire that is.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, motor off, and not rushed beside High Street at the roadside.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both sit under a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and look once more — confirm the diesel filler remained closed throughout. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Eynsham already?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the BP, ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. At home in Eynsham? Then the car remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. The next junction is the place to come off if you're on the M40, under 10 miles from Eynsham. About how far did it go? Hopping across Eynsham is smaller work than a trip of under 10 miles to Oxford, and so say.
What takes place when our engineers get there around Eynsham
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Eynsham Community Primary School, close to Eynsham War Memorial or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because those answers decide the work and the price. You get that price by phone, before anyone heads out.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, once your tank is emptied. With AdBlue that counts 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. Filter flushed or, where it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a check of your vehicle. The engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before we leave.
If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Eynsham and where it is
Eynsham is a village in Oxfordshire, situated on the River Thames, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Eynsham sits at an elevation of around 70 metres, close to the nearby villages of Swinford and Cassington. Eynsham is located near the city of Oxford, approximately 5.4 miles to the west, and is part of the wider South East region. Eynsham has a population of around 1886 people, living in a variety of housing types, predominantly semi-detached homes.
AdBlue drains in Eynsham and across Oxfordshire
As a village, Eynsham has the same vans as nearby places — Cassington, Farmoor — all the way through OX postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting OX29 4 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to shift the vehicle. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Eynsham Baptist Church, a lay-by on the way to Eynsham Recreation Ground, a driveway. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Saint Leonard's, on a border, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
The short version for Eynsham drivers
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere in Oxfordshire.