Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hillbourne: Why It Happens
Keep the motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Around Hillbourne, catching it before the motor turns normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one liquid but two: that is how many modern diesels around Hillbourne and Nuffield run, with diesel for the engine. Your exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean it, from its own tank.
There is a filler on each tank. Many of cars share a single flap for the two, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hillbourne: how it takes place
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off York Road before work, or in the car park outside The Blackwater Stream heading home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and if it is gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is the second factor: a new vehicle.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Hillbourne or out in Waterloo.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Stanley Green or a forecourt in Hillbourne.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On plenty of motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it next to your diesel filler? Then check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Hamworthy.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Dorset that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Northbrook Road, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located your filler and read it.
- The two behind one flap? So make sure the cap on your diesel filler is still closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hillbourne already?
Short list, then. First: the motor remains unstarted. Keep your ignition off as well, since on many diesels switching it on alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push your car clear of the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Shell, the Tesco Fleetsbridge or anywhere else. If you are on your own driveway in Hillbourne, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. On the M27, under 25 miles from Hillbourne, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Hillbourne is smaller a job than a trip of under 25 miles to Salisbury, and so say.
When our technicians turn up around Hillbourne, what takes place?
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Hillbourne Primary School, close to St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church or on your own driveway. Which fluid went in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask since those replies decide the work and price. No one sets off until you have had our price by phone.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of it washes out unaided, no matter how long it sits. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we leave, our engineers start the car and confirm that it is running correctly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, as long as the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. It's worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Hillbourne and where it is
Hillbourne is a suburban area located on the southern coast of England, in Dorset, with an elevation of 29 metres above sea level. Hillbourne sits near the neighbouring areas of Waterloo, Creekmoor, and Broadstone, and is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock. Hillbourne is situated approximately 23.7 miles from Salisbury and 96.4 miles from London, making it a relatively accessible coastal suburb. Hillbourne has a population of around 5835 residents.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Hillbourne included
Hillbourne is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the places near it, Creekmoor and Broadstone among them, across the BH postcode area. A postcode starting BH18 8 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car does not need to move. Wherever it stands — near David Lloyd Clubs, in a layby en route to Pocket Park, on a drive — that's where it gets drained. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Broadstone Library, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Hillbourne drivers
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Dorset, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.