Hatch: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the engine has not turned, it's drained and thoroughly flushed where the car sits in Hatch. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many current diesels on the roads around Hatch and Water End carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray treats the gas.
Every tank has a filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at each filling station visit, again and again. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Hatch?
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off London Road before work, or in the car park outside The Hatch on the way home.
New-to-you cars are next, as well. Rentals, new motors and company motors put their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it takes place in Old Basing or the middle of Hatch, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Hatch forecourt or a drive over in Little Basing, spend a few seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- Can't find it beside your diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Basingstoke, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever it is in Hampshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Hatch Park, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look once more — confirm your diesel filler stayed closed throughout. After that, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Hatch?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. Don't 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 the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Tesco, the Texaco or somewhere else. If you are on your own driveway in Hatch, leave the vehicle where it is.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Leave the M3 — under a mile out of Hatch — at the next junction. Distance counts — a quick hop across Hatch is a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Winchester — so say roughly how far it went.
What occurs when we get there around Hatch
The van comes to the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, near Mapledurwell & Up Nately Village Hall, or by Old Basing Infant School. We ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run, because the answers decide this work and the price. On the call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, once your tank is emptied. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. That is why it counts more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The motor is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians go.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our engineers arrive, as long as your engine has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. 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's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Hatch itself
Hatch is a suburban area in Hampshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 76 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Hatch lies near the villages of Old Basing, Andwell, and Mapledurwell, and is approximately 18.4 miles from the city of Winchester. Hatch is also within commuting distance of London, being around 42.5 miles away. Hatch has a population of around 1843 residents.
AdBlue drains around Hatch and across Hampshire
Throughout RG postcodes, the teams that cover Hatch — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Mapledurwell and Andwell among them. Quote a postcode that starts RG24 7, and the van arrives fastest.
Moving the car is not necessary. Wherever it sits — beside Bolton Arch, in a lay-by heading to Middle Copse, at home — that is where it gets emptied. Guessing doesn't help at the back of St Mary's, on a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
Hatch people: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Hampshire.