AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hardeicke: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your engine hasn't run, it's drained and thoroughly rinsed where your vehicle is around Hardeicke. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it does not — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel goes to the engine — yet many current diesels seen about Hardeicke and Parkend carry another liquid as well. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in on each filling station call-out, again and again. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. The error lives in that gap.
Hardeicke: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off Sticky Lane before work, or in the car park at The Bumble Bee heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar vehicles come second, too. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles place their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Hardeicke or out in Four Mile Elm.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Haresfield or a forecourt around Hardeicke, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it is if the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Gloucester, ask before you leave, not when the light 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 once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and never in a rush by A38 on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
Hardeicke: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the BP, the Asda or somewhere else. Your own driveway in Hardeicke is the place it stays.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Come off the M5 — under a mile out of Hardeicke — at the first exit. Distance counts — a short hop across Hardeicke makes a smaller job than driving under 5 miles towards Gloucester — so say about how far it went.
When we arrive in Hardeicke, what occurs?
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Hardwicke Parochial Primary Academy, near British Legion or on your own driveway. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — what liquid, what quantity, and if it has run — so we ask. That quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Then your tank is drained and your system rinsed thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out by itself. That is why it counts more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Next we fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before leaving.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Hardeicke
Hardeicke is a locality in Gloucestershire, situated on the riverside near Gloucester, with a mix of detached housing and rural scenery. Hardeicke has a relatively low elevation of 24 metres, and its proximity to the city of Gloucester makes it a commuter-friendly area. Hardeicke is close to nearby places such as Four Mile Elm, Hardwicke, and Quedgeley, and is about 95 miles west of London.
AdBlue drains across Gloucestershire, Hardeicke included
As a small village, Hardeicke shares its vans nearby areas — Hardwicke, Quedgeley — right through GL postcodes and the wider area beyond. Quickest of all: give a GL2 4 postcode for our van.
Shifting the vehicle isn't needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Hunts Grove, a side street near Hardwicke Village Hall: our engineers drain the car where it stands. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Quedgeley Methodist Church, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and ask.
In short, for Hardeicke people
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Gloucestershire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.