Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Headley Park: Why It Happens
Leave your engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Headley Park. Not happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it happens and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single liquid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels around Headley Park and Bishopsworth run, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank comes with one filler of its own. Plenty of cars have a single flap for both, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Headley Park
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Saint Peters Rise before work, or in the car park outside The Maytree on the way home.
New-to-you cars come next, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as readily, and after the tip starts, nothing halts it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Headley Park or out in Bedminster Down.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Uplands or a forecourt around Headley Park, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — many vehicles mark what goes in each filler right there.
- Can't find it beside the diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Parson Street, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere in Bristol the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside Maytree Avenue at the roadside.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located the filler and read it.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Never go on to stage five.
Headley Park: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — Esso, Texaco or any other — the staff will usually help push your car clear, when you ask. At home in Headley Park? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
Already run? Pull over when it is sensible, then turn off. On the M32, under 5 miles from Headley Park, that means the next junction. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Headley Park is a smaller job than driving under 3 miles to Bristol — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Headley Park, and what happens next
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Headley Park Primary School, near Headley Park Church or on your own driveway. We ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run, because the answers settle the work and our quote. The price comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, some metals corrode, and nothing clears away on its own, however long it sits. Once the fuel filter is flushed — or renewed, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally the vehicle gets tested. The motor is started next and checked to make sure it runs properly, all before our technicians go.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor has not run take about half an hour after our technicians arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Headley Park itself
Headley Park is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Bristol, situated near the river and at an elevation of 49 metres. Headley Park sits in close proximity to the city centre, approximately 2.2 miles from Bristol, and is surrounded by other residential areas such as Bedminster Down and Novers Park. Headley Park is characterised by its semi-detached housing and is home to a population of around 4821 residents. Headley Park is also relatively close to London, being around 107 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Headley Park and across Bristol
As a residential suburb, Headley Park has the same vans as nearby areas — Inns Court, Novers Park — all the way across BS postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Quote a postcode beginning BS13 7, and the van arrives quickest.
There's no need to move the vehicle. Draining happens right there, whether a driveway, a road near Bishopsworth Library, or a lay-by on the way to Manor Wood. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of St Oswald.
For Headley Park drivers, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave the car switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, throughout Bristol.