Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Jericho: Why It Happens
Leave your motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Usually, when your motor has not run, it's emptied and fully rinsed where your vehicle sits around Jericho. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels on the roads about Jericho and Osney carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Jericho: how it occurs
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Cardigan Street, or heading home in the car park at The Harcourt Arms.
New-to-you vehicles are second, too. Rentals, new cars and company motors place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and after the pour starts, no part halts it. Whether it takes place in Walton Manor or the middle of Jericho, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Oxford or a forecourt around Jericho, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Oxford, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — wherever you are across Oxfordshire — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Victor Street, 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. Where both share a flap, confirm it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Finish once the tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, tip slowly using its built-in spout.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Jericho?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — BP, Shell or another — the attendants will usually help push your car clear, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Jericho.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Come off the Wheatley Spur — under 10 miles out of Jericho — at the next junction. A short hop across Jericho is a smaller job than a run towards Oxford, under a mile away, so tell us about how far it went.
When our engineers arrive in Jericho, what occurs?
Our van comes to the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Oxford Baptist Chapel, or by St Barnabas' Church of England Aided Primary School. Our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and whether it has run, because those replies decide this work and our price. The price is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, after that tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that clears out by itself. Hence it matters more. After the filter is flushed — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally the vehicle gets tested. The engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs properly, all before we go.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor hasn't run take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Jericho itself
Jericho is a suburban area in Oxfordshire, situated on the banks of the River Thames, with Walton Manor and Norham Manor nearby. Jericho has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterized by terraced homes. Jericho is located very close to Oxford city centre, at an elevation of around 59 metres, and is part of the larger Oxford urban area. Jericho is also within commuting distance of London, approximately 51.9 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Oxfordshire, Jericho included
Jericho is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the places near it, Norham Manor and New Osney among them, across the OX postcode area. Give a postcode beginning OX2 6, and our van gets there quickest.
Moving the car is not necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Playing Fields, a side street near Jericho Community Centre: our engineers drain the car where it stands. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of St Barnabas Church.
Jericho people: the short version
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, wherever across Oxfordshire: keep the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.