Fairford: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, keep the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done right where the car sits in Fairford, is usually all it needs if found before your motor runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel feeds your engine — but many current diesels driven round Fairford and Marston Hill carry another liquid as well. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank.
Separate tanks, different fillers. 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. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Fairford: how it takes place
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Bridge Street, or at The Bull Hotel on the way home that evening.
New-to-you vehicles are second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing stops the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. East End or the heart of Fairford: it takes the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Whelford or a forecourt in Fairford.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask as you collect a hire car or fleet car — at Swindon's car park, perhaps — rather than when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, anywhere across Gloucestershire, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of High Street, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- 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.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Fairford already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Shell, Texaco or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the vehicle away when asked. On your own drive in Fairford? Then the vehicle remains put.
Already started? Pull over once it's safe, then switch off. The next exit means where to leave when you're on the M4, under 15 miles from Fairford. About how far did it go? Hopping across Fairford is smaller a job than a run of under 25 miles towards Oxford, and so tell us.
Our arrival in Fairford, and what takes place next
Anywhere your car came to rest, be it by Fairford Church of England Primary School, beside Fairford Community Centre or at home, the van travels to it. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and if it has run — so we ask. No one heads out before you have had our quote by phone.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. 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. Filter flushed or, where needed, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. Then we start it and make sure it runs properly before leaving.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor has not run need about half an hour after our engineers are there. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Fairford and where it is
Fairford is a small town in Gloucestershire, situated on the banks of the River Coln, near the Cotswold Water Park. Fairford has a population of around 3924 people and is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock. Fairford sits at an elevation of 88 metres, with nearby villages including East End, Milton End, and Horcott. Fairford is located approximately 22.6 miles from Oxford and 72.3 miles from London.
Fairford and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Fairford is a town, and our teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Milton End and Horcott among them, across the GL postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning GL7 4, and our van arrives quickest.
The car stays put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Bull Island, a side street near St Mary: our engineers drain the vehicle where it sits. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Fairford Library, ring and ask instead of guessing.
For Fairford people, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, anywhere around Gloucestershire: switch the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.