Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Langport: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Langport, finding it before your motor turns usually leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels in Newtown, as well as Langport, run on two liquids; the motor gets only the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of motors share a single flap for both, while some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
Langport: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things lining up together.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Cheapside, or heading home in the car park at Langport Arms Hotel.
Unfamiliar motors come second, too. Rentals, new motors and company motors place their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, whether out in Langport Eastover or right in the heart of Langport.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Langport forecourt or a drive over in Garden City, take a few seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it lives when the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Bridgwater.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever it is across Somerset — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of The Hill, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, but it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both share a flap, make sure it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Langport?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting your motor. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that's where your fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the BP, ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Langport.
Already run? Pull over once it's safe, then switch off. On the M5, under 10 miles from Langport, that means the next junction. A short hop across Langport is a smaller job than a run towards Wells, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Langport, and what happens next
Wherever your car came to rest, whether outside Huish Episcopi Primary School, near Langport Library or at home, the van comes to it. We ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, because the answers determine the work and our price. You hear that price on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before leaving, we start the car and check that it's running correctly.
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. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Langport itself
Langport is a small town in Somerset, situated on the River Parrett in the South West of England. Langport sits at a low elevation of around 16 metres, with its riverside location influencing its development and character. Langport has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent, and its population of approximately 3614 people supports a range of local amenities. Langport is located near several smaller settlements, including Langport Eastover and Huish Episcopi.
AdBlue drains around Langport and across Somerset
Langport is a riverside town, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Whatley and Huish Episcopi among them, across the TA postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting TA10 9.
The car remains put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Wagg, a side street close to Langport Town Council: our engineers drain it where it is. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Church of All Saints? By a border? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
The short version for Langport drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Somerset, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — and so leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103.