AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ivybridge: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It
Pause here for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your engine hasn't run, it is drained and thoroughly cleaned where the car is in Ivybridge. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many current diesels on the roads around Ivybridge and Ludbrook carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what cap to use. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Ivybridge
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things lining up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Exeter Road before work, or in the car park outside Trehill Arms on the way home.
Unfamiliar cars come second, too. Hire cars, new cars and company motors place their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it takes place in Godwell or the middle of Ivybridge, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Whether a Ivybridge forecourt or a driveway out in Westlake, take a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- On plenty of cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show what goes in which inlet right there.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check as you pick up a hire car or company car — from the nearest station's car park, say — rather than when the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Devon that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Harford Road, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop when your tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently using its built-in spout.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never came off.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Leave out stage five entirely.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Ivybridge?
Short order, then. First: the motor stays off. Keep the ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the pump if you're on a forecourt — the BP, the Tesco or anywhere else. If you are on your own drive around Ivybridge, leave it where it sits.
Already run? Stop once it is safe, then turn off. On the M5, under 50 miles from Ivybridge, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Ivybridge is less a job than a run of under 10 miles towards Plymouth, so tell us.
When our technicians turn up around Ivybridge, what happens?
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside The Erme Primary School, close to US Army War Memorial or on your own drive. Which liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers set both work and quote. You hear that price by phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of it washes out unaided. Hence it matters more. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before leaving, our technicians fire it up and check that it is running properly.
If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Ivybridge and where it is
Ivybridge is a town situated in a riverside location in Devon, England. It is positioned near the southern edge of Dartmoor National Park, an area of outstanding natural beauty. The town is close to the city of Plymouth and is served by a major road, making it an important stopping point for travellers. Ivybridge is nestled in the South Hams region of Devon, known for its picturesque countryside.
AdBlue drains in Ivybridge and across Devon
Ivybridge is a riverside town, and our teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Filham and Penquit among them, across the PL postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting PL21 0.
There's no need to shift your car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near The Watermark, a lay-by on the way to MacAndrews Field, a drive. Guessing won't help at the back of Ivbridge Town Hall, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
The short version for Ivybridge drivers
First, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Devon, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.