AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Headington Quarry: Why It Occurs and How to Stop It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where the car stands in Headington Quarry, is usually what it takes if found before your motor runs. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel feeds your motor — but plenty of current diesels seen round Headington Quarry and Barton carry a second fluid as well. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to fresh them, from its own tank.
There is a filler for each tank. Other cars put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have both together under one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Headington Quarry: how it takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off Quarry Hollow before work, or in the car park at The Chequers on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and after the pour starts, no part halts it. Risinghurst or the heart of Headington Quarry: it is the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt around Headington Quarry or a driveway out in New Headington. A few seconds, no more.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Oxford.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever you are across Oxfordshire — a simple routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Chequers Place, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located the filler and read it.
- The two under a single flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel filler is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, shut the cap and check again that the diesel cap never came off.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to step five.
Headington Quarry: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — Shell, BP or another — the staff will normally help push the vehicle clear, when you ask. Your own driveway around Headington Quarry is the place it should stay.
When your motor has been run already, stop somewhere safe then switch the vehicle off. The next exit is where to leave when you are on the M40, under 5 miles from Headington Quarry. A short hop across Headington Quarry is a smaller job than a run towards Oxford, under 3 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Headington Quarry, and what happens next
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Bayards Hill School, close to Holy Trinity Church or on your own drive. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since the replies decide the work and price. No one sets off before you've had the price by phone.
The system is then cleaned thoroughly, after the tank is cleared. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Next our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before we leave.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after we arrive, as long as the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Headington Quarry
Headington Quarry is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Oxford, situated approximately 2.6 miles from the city centre. Headington Quarry sits in a relatively low-lying area at an elevation of around 104 metres, near the nearby places of Risinghurst, Sandhills, and Shotover Hill. Headington Quarry is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, which reflects the typical residential development of the surrounding area. Headington Quarry is also within commuting distance to London, being around 49.1 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Headington Quarry, and Oxfordshire beyond
As a residential suburb, Headington Quarry shares its vans surrounding areas — Sandhills, Shotover Hill — right through OX postcodes and the wider area beyond. Quote a postcode that starts OX3 8, and the van arrives quickest.
The vehicle does not need to shift. The drain happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a street near Cornerstone Christian Centre, or a layby towards Quarry Hollow Park. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Headington Quarry War Memorial, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Headington Quarry motorists
First, the cap; after that, the pour. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, anywhere across Oxfordshire: switch the car off and call 0333 366 0103.