AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Laverstock: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page down a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Laverstock, catching it before the engine turns normally means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. If you're 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 motor, and its separate tank
Not one fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels near Laverstock and Petersfinger carry, with diesel for your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
There's a filler for each tank. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both together under one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think which filler to use. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen in Laverstock?
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up together.
On a drive off Church Road before work, or in the car park at Duck Inn on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have 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. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Laverstock or out in Bishopdown.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt around Laverstock or a driveway over in Hampton Park. Seconds, that's all.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of cars show what goes in which inlet right there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Salisbury.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light comes on, anywhere around Wiltshire, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Westfield Close, not on a slope, not with the 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 remains on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check once more — making sure your diesel filler remained shut throughout. Only then, start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Step five is out.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Laverstock?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the BP or the Esso, ask the attendants to help roll your car clear of the pump. On your own drive around Laverstock? So your car remains where it is.
Already started? Pull over once it's sensible, then switch off. On the M27, under 15 miles from Laverstock, that means the next junction. Mileage counts — a short hop across Laverstock makes a smaller job than heading under 3 miles to Salisbury — so say about how far it went.
When our technicians turn up in Laverstock, what happens?
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, whether by St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, Laverstock, near St Andrew or at home, the van comes to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three answers — which fluid, which amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. On the call itself, you are told our quote — before dispatch.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out unaided. Hence it counts more. Once the fuel filter has been flushed — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then the car gets tested. Before leaving, our engineers fire it up and confirm that it's running smoothly.
If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Laverstock itself
Laverstock is a suburban area situated on the outskirts of Salisbury in Wiltshire, with its riverside location providing scenic views. Laverstock sits at an elevation of 53 metres, close to the city centre and nearby neighbourhoods such as Bishopdown and Wyndham Park. Laverstock has a population of around 1783 people, predominantly living in detached housing. Laverstock is located near Milford, another local area, and is about 77 miles from London.
Laverstock and Wiltshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Wyndham Park and Milford are among the places around Laverstock, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout SP postcodes. A postcode starting SP1 1 gets our van to you fastest.
There's no need to move your car. Anywhere it sits — near Laverstock and Ford Village Hall, on a layby en route to Whitebridge Park/play area, on a drive — that is where it gets cleared. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St Mark's Church, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Laverstock motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere around Wiltshire.