Leckhampton: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Pause reading for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Leckhampton, finding it before your motor runs usually means draining and a full flush where it stands. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels in Charlton Park, like those in Leckhampton, run on two liquids; your motor gets just your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
There is a filler on every tank. 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 filled at the petrol pump all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think which filler it needs. It's in that gap that the mistake happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Leckhampton: how it happens
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Arden Road, or at The Wheatsheaf on the way home after work.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
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 tip once it has started. Whether it happens in Pilley or the middle of Leckhampton, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt in Leckhampton or a drive over in Sandy Lane. A few seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- The handbook says which it lives if your filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with 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 Cheltenham Spa.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across Gloucestershire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Duckworth Close.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have located the filler and read the cap.
- Both under one flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel filler stays shut before raising 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 — making sure your diesel cap stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Step five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Leckhampton already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Keep your ignition off too, because on many diesels it by itself runs the pump. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
The staff at Texaco, Morrisons or any forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the vehicle away when you ask. At home in Leckhampton? Then the car stays where it is.
Where your engine has been run by now, pull over safely and turn the car off. Leave the M5 — under 5 miles out of Leckhampton — at the next exit. A short hop across Leckhampton is a smaller job than a run towards Gloucester, under 10 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Leckhampton, and what happens next
The van comes to the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, near Malvern Inn, or by Leckhampton Church of England Primary School. What liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask since those replies set the work and quote. During the call itself, you are told the quote — before dispatch.
Then the tank is cleared and your system rinsed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before our technicians go.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Leckhampton
Leckhampton is a suburban area in Gloucestershire, situated near the River Churn and approximately 7 miles south of Gloucester. Leckhampton sits at an elevation of around 86 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Leckhampton is close to nearby places such as Pilley and Naunton Park, and is located within the wider Gloucester urban area. Leckhampton has a population of around 5183 residents.
Leckhampton and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, Leckhampton shares its vans nearby places — Naunton Park, The Park — right across GL postcodes and the wider area around them. Quickest of all: quote a GL53 0 postcode for the van.
Your car doesn't need to shift. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Burrow's Field, a side street near Leckhampton Village Hall: our technicians drain the vehicle where it sits. Guessing won't help at the back of Gas Lamp Base, on a boundary, or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
For Leckhampton motorists, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Gloucestershire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.