Fareham: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the car stands around Fareham, is usually all it takes when caught before the engine runs. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it occurs and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Fareham and West End carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. 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 gets filled at every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. That gap is where the slip lives.
Fareham: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off West Street, perhaps outside The Ironmaster on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar vehicles are next, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, keeps on. Whether it occurs in Wallington or the middle of Fareham, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Fleetlands or a forecourt around Fareham.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside the nearest station? Check with the person who drove the car last before leaving, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — anywhere it is across Hampshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Adelaide Place.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Both under one flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel filler is still shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look again 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. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Fareham?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. Leave your ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone runs your pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Sainsbury's, Esso or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the vehicle away if you ask. If you are on your own drive around Fareham, leave it where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. Leave the M27 — under a mile out of Fareham — at the first exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Fareham is smaller a job than a run of under 10 miles towards Portsmouth, so say.
Our arrival around Fareham, and what takes place next
By Harrison Primary School, near Fareham Shopping Centre or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — which fluid, what quantity, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. Nobody sets off before you've had our quote over the phone.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears out by itself. Hence it counts more. After the filter is flushed — or renewed, where required — fresh diesel goes in, and then the vehicle gets tested. Before we go, our technicians start the engine and confirm that it is running correctly.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Fareham and where it is
Fareham is a coastal town in Hampshire, situated near the major city of Portsmouth and approximately 64 miles from London. Fareham has a population of around 16680 people and is characterised by its semi-detached housing stock. Fareham sits at a low elevation of around 12 metres above sea level, with nearby areas including Wallington, Downend, and North Fareham. Fareham is part of the larger South East region of England, with its coastal setting influencing its development and character.
AdBlue drains about Fareham, and Hampshire beyond
Fareham is a coastal town, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Downend and North Fareham among them, across the PO postcode area. Fastest of all: give a PO16 0 postcode to the van.
Your car doesn't need to shift. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Fareham Market, a lay-by on the way to Bath Park, a drive. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Reel, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Fareham drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across Hampshire.