Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Four Mile Elm: Why It Occurs
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the engine has not turned, it's drained and fully purged where your vehicle is in Four Mile Elm. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many current diesels on the roads around Four Mile Elm and Parkend carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Some cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have the two together under one flap. Diesel goes in on every filling station call-out, week in, week out. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which cap to use. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Four Mile Elm?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Bristol Road before work, or in the car park at The Bumble Bee on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: a new car.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once begun, keeps on. It's a few seconds, whether out in Hardeicke or right in the heart of Four Mile Elm.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Haresfield or a forecourt in Four Mile Elm, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Look for it.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you pick up a hire car or company car — from Gloucester's car park, say — rather than when the warning comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Gloucestershire that is.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, motor off, and never in a rush by A38 on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- The two under one flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel side stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check again — confirm your diesel cap stayed closed throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Do not go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Four Mile Elm already?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The attendants at BP, Asda or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car clear when you ask. Your own drive around Four Mile Elm is the place it should stay.
Already run? Pull over once it is safe, then turn off. Four Mile Elm sits under a mile from the M5; there, use the first junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Gloucester, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Four Mile Elm.
When our engineers turn up around Four Mile Elm, what takes place?
Wherever your car came to rest, whether by Hardwicke Parochial Primary Academy, near British Legion or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run, since the replies decide the work and the price. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Draining your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. That is why it counts more. The filter flushed or, if needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of your vehicle. Before we leave, our technicians start the car and confirm that it's running correctly.
If the 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 after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Four Mile Elm and where it is
Four Mile Elm is a locality situated on the riverside in Gloucestershire, with a relatively low elevation of 24 metres. Four Mile Elm lies close to the city of Gloucester, approximately 4 miles away, and is near other local places such as Hardeicke, Hardwicke, and Quedgeley. Four Mile Elm has a population of around 1213 people and predominantly features detached housing.
AdBlue drains around Four Mile Elm and across Gloucestershire
As a small village, Four Mile Elm has the same vans as nearby places — Hardwicke, Quedgeley — right through GL postcodes and the wider area around them. Quote a postcode beginning GL2 4, and the van arrives fastest.
Moving your car is not needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Hunts Grove, a side street close to Hardwicke Village Hall: our engineers drain it where it stands. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Quedgeley Methodist Church, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
The short version for Four Mile Elm motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere around Gloucestershire.