How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fortuneswell
Pause reading a minute when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your motor has not turned, it's drained and thoroughly cleaned where your vehicle is in Fortuneswell. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one fluid but two: that is what many newer diesels near Fortuneswell and Grove run, with diesel for the engine. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to clean it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of cars have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on each filling station visit, week in, week out. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually comes from a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what cap to use. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Fortuneswell: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Haste follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off East Street, or heading home in the car park at The Britannia.
New-to-you cars are second, too. Rentals, new motors and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and once the tip begins, no part stops it. Whether it occurs in Chiswell or the middle of Fortuneswell, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt in Fortuneswell or a driveway out in Easton. Seconds, that's all.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Weymouth, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Dorset that is.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, engine off, and never rushed by Belle Vue Terrace at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Fortuneswell?
Don't start the motor: that's how the short order of things begins. Leave your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone runs your fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Esso, the Shell or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Fortuneswell.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. On the M5, under 50 miles from Fortuneswell, that means the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Salisbury, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Fortuneswell.
Fortuneswell: what takes place when we get there
Anywhere the car has stopped, be it outside St George's Foundation Primary School, beside Underhill Methodist Church or at home, our van travels to it. What fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask because the answers decide the work and quote. On the phone call itself, you hear the quote — before anything else.
The system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your car. Before leaving, we start it and check that it's running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our technicians get there, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Fortuneswell and where it is
Fortuneswell is a coastal town in Dorset, situated on the Isle of Portland, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 6558 residents. Fortuneswell sits at an elevation of 54 metres, overlooking the sea and surrounded by nearby places like Chiswell and Castletown. Fortuneswell is located near Portland Port, a major harbour facility, and is about 45 miles from Salisbury, the nearest city. Fortuneswell remains a popular residential area with a strong sense of community.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Fortuneswell included
Fortuneswell is a coastal town, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Castletown and Portland Port among them, across the DT postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting DT5 1.
The car doesn't need to move. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a street by ArtSpace82, or a layby towards King Barrow Quarries Reserve. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Outpost? Close to a county line? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
Fortuneswell people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, anywhere across Dorset: switch it off and phone 0333 366 0103.