How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Henbury
Keep the engine and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Normally, when your motor has not run, it's emptied and fully purged where your car sits in Henbury. Not happened yet? Further down, the page covers the why it happens and the how to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels on the roads about Henbury and Coombe Dingle carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel goes in on every filling station call-out, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around Henbury?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from your car, and running out leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Station Road, or at Blaise Inn on the way home after work.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, keeps on. Whether it takes place in Blaise Hamlet or the middle of Henbury, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Whether a Henbury forecourt or a drive over in Berwick, take a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of 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.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Sea Mills.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Bristol that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Church Close, not on a slope, not with your 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 daft and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- 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 once more, 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.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Henbury?
Short list, then. Top of that: your engine remains off. Leave the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that's where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll the car away from the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the BP, the Shell or somewhere else. Your own drive around Henbury is where it stays.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Come off the M5 — under a mile out of Henbury — at the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Henbury is smaller work than a trip of under 5 miles to Bristol, so tell us.
Our arrival in Henbury, and what occurs next
Outside Henbury Court Primary Academy, close to Henbury Village Hall or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run, since the answers settle this work and the quote. During the call itself, you are told the price — ahead of anything else.
Then the tank is emptied and the system rinsed thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, certain metals corrode, and none of it clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. Testing comes last: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or changed if necessary. Before we go, our technicians start it and confirm that it's running correctly.
If the motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Henbury
Henbury is a suburban area in Bristol, situated approximately 4 miles from the city centre and 107 miles from London. Henbury occupies a coastal setting, with its elevation at around 47 metres, and is characterised by predominantly flat housing. Henbury is close to nearby places such as Blaise Hamlet, Hallen, and Brentry, and has a population of around 3980 residents. Henbury forms part of the larger Bristol urban area, with the city's amenities and services within easy reach.
Henbury and Bristol: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, Henbury shares its vans nearby places — Hallen, Brentry — right through BS postcodes and the wider area around them. Give a postcode that starts BS10 7, and the van gets there quickest.
The vehicle doesn't need to shift. Draining happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a street by Henbury War Memorial, or a lay-by towards Blaise Community Garden. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Scipio Africanus, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Henbury drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, anywhere around Bristol: keep the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.