Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Highnam Green: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, keep the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where your vehicle sits in Highnam Green, is normally what it takes when found before the motor runs. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel feeds your engine — yet many newer diesels seen around Highnam Green and Rudford carry another fluid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on a lot of motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled at each filling station visit, week in, week out. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
Highnam Green: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
Haste comes from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Iris Place, or on the way home in the car park at the pub in the village.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, keeps on. Highnam or the middle of Highnam Green: it is the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Highnam Green forecourt or a driveway over in Over, take a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Gloucester, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Wherever in Gloucestershire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Limekiln Grove.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It works.
- The two under a single flap? So confirm the cap on the diesel filler is still shut before raising the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Highnam Green?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — BP, M. B. Holder & Sons Ltd or another — the staff will usually help roll the car away, if you ask. At home around Highnam Green? Then the car stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. On the M5, under 10 miles from Highnam Green, that means the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Gloucester, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Highnam Green.
When we get there around Highnam Green, what happens?
The van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, near Lassington Court, or by Highnam CofE Primary Academy. We ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run, because the replies settle this work and the quote. No one sets off before you have heard the price by phone.
Then that tank is cleared and your system purged thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, certain metals corrode, and none of that washes away on its own, however long it is left. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Before we leave, we start the engine and make sure that it's running properly.
If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Highnam Green itself
Highnam Green is a locality situated near the city of Gloucester in Gloucestershire, with a mix of detached housing and open spaces. Highnam Green lies close to the villages of Highnam and Lassington, and is near the River Severn. Highnam Green has a relatively low elevation of 34 metres above sea level, and is about 96 miles west of London. Highnam Green is a small residential area with a population of around 1375 people.
Highnam Green and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Lassington and Maisemore are among the towns around Highnam Green, a neighbourhood, that the same teams cover, throughout GL postcodes. Fastest of all: give a GL2 8 postcode to the van.
There's no need to shift the car. The drain takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a road by Saint Oswald's Tower, or a layby towards The Roughett. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Highnam Community Centre? Close to a border? Asking beats assuming, and so ring.
In short, for Highnam Green drivers
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Gloucestershire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.