Frenchay: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done just where the car stands in Frenchay, is normally all it needs when caught before your engine runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
No single liquid but two: that is what many modern diesels near Frenchay and Moorend run, with diesel for your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
There is a filler for every tank. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on a lot of motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place in Frenchay
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things coming up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the vehicle, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Beckspool Road, perhaps outside White Lion on the way home that evening.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Frenchay or out in Hambrook.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Frenchay or a drive out in Mangotsfield. A few seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook shows which it lives when your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Bristol Parkway, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever around Gloucestershire, follow this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Homestead Gardens.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Finish when that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently through the built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Frenchay?
Do not start your engine: that is how the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at BP, Shell or any forecourt will usually help to push your car clear when asked. Your own drive in Frenchay is where it stays.
Where the motor has run already, pull over safely then switch the vehicle off. The next junction means where to come off if you are on the M32, under a mile from Frenchay. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Bristol, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Frenchay.
Our arrival around Frenchay, and what happens next
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Frenchay Church of England Primary School, close to Frenchay Village Hall or on your own driveway. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run, since those replies determine this work and the price. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is drained. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears out unaided. That is why it matters more. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Your engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before we go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our engineers get there, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Frenchay, for a moment
Frenchay is a village situated on the banks of the River Frome in Gloucestershire, with a mix of rural and suburban characteristics. Frenchay sits at an elevation of 51 metres, close to the city of Bristol, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Hambrook and Whiteshill. Frenchay has a population of approximately 2076 residents, predominantly living in detached housing. Frenchay is located about 102.8 miles west of London, making it a commuter-friendly location.
Frenchay and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
As a village, Frenchay shares its vans nearby areas — Whiteshill, Bromley Heath — all the way across BS postcodes and the wider area around them. Fastest of all: give a BS16 1 postcode to the van.
No need to move the vehicle. The drain happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a road near Frenchay Quaker Meeting House, or a layby towards Frenchay Nature Reserve. Assuming won't help behind Frenchay Unitarian Chapel, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
The short version for Frenchay drivers
First, the cap; after that, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Gloucestershire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — so leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.