Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fritwell: Why It Occurs
Pause here a minute when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. In Fritwell, catching it before the motor turns usually means draining and a full flush where it stands. Reading in advance? In that case what follows covers how it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads around Fritwell and Somerton carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both side by side behind one flap. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
Fritwell: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off North Street before work, or in the car park at Kings Head on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Third, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and after the pour begins, nothing stops it. It's a few seconds, be it in Souldern or right in the centre of Fritwell.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Fritwell forecourt or a driveway out in Ardley, take a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Many cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Heyford, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
When the light comes on, anywhere around Oxfordshire, use this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Town Well End.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- Both under one flap? So confirm the cap on the diesel filler stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Stage five is out.
Fritwell: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. Diluting it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that's where your fuel is pulled from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the A E Prentice or the Esso, ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. If you are on your own drive in Fritwell, leave the car where it stands.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Come off the M40 — under a mile out of Fritwell — at the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Fritwell is smaller work than a trip of under 15 miles towards Oxford, and so say.
Our arrival around Fritwell, and what happens next
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Fritwell Church of England Primary School, near St Olave or on your own drive. What liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the replies decide the work and price. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Then the tank is cleared and the system rinsed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. After the filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if required — fresh diesel goes in, and then the car is tested. Before we go, we fire it up and confirm that it's running smoothly.
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 working 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. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Fritwell
Fritwell is a small village in north Oxfordshire, situated in a rural area at an elevation of around 132 metres. Fritwell lies approximately 14.5 miles north of Oxford and 56.9 miles west of London, near the villages of Souldern, Fewcott, and Baynards Green. Fritwell has a population of around 711 people and is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock. Fritwell remains a quiet, residential community with a strong sense of rural identity.
AdBlue drains in Fritwell and across Oxfordshire
Fewcott and Baynards Green are among the places near Fritwell, a rural village, that the same vans cover, throughout OX postcodes. Fastest of all: give a OX27 7 postcode for our van.
The car doesn't need to move. Anywhere it stands — beside Souldern Village Hall, in a layby en route to Nancy Bowles Wood, at home — that is where it is cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Souldern Wesleyan Chapel? Close to a border? Asking beats guessing, and so ring.
Fritwell motorists: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Oxfordshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.