AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Liphook: Why It Occurs and How to Stop It
Leave the motor and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Caught before your motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Liphook. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page covers the reasons it occurs and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that's how many modern diesels near Liphook and Wheatsheaf Common run, with diesel feeding the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in at every forecourt visit, week in, week out. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Liphook: how it occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Court Close before work, or in the car park at The Royal Anchor on the way home.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is the second thing: an unfamiliar vehicle.
Lastly, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and once the tip starts, no part stops it. It's a few seconds, be it in Newtown or right in the heart of Liphook.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Liphook or a drive out in Bramshott. Seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever you are across Hampshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — not rushing on the side of Portsmouth Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- Both behind one flap? So make sure the cap on the diesel filler is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Liphook?
Do not start your motor: that's how the short order of things begins. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Sainsbury's or the Shell, ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump. On your own drive around Liphook? Then the vehicle stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. The next exit is the place to leave when you are on the Waterlooville Bypass, under 15 miles from Liphook. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Liphook makes a smaller job than heading under 25 miles to Chichester — so say roughly how far it went.
Liphook: what happens when we arrive
Wherever the car has stopped, be it by Liphook Infant School, near St Mary's Church Centre or at home, the van comes to it. The answers decide this work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. With AdBlue that counts 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. Once the filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if required — fresh diesel is added, and finally your vehicle gets tested. Before leaving, our technicians start it and check that it is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive, as long as the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Liphook and where it is
Liphook is a village in Hampshire, situated in the South East region of England, with a population of around 2420 people. Liphook sits inland, approximately 106 metres above sea level, and is located near the villages of Newtown, Cold Ash Hill, and Griggs Green. Liphook is characterized by its predominance of terraced housing and is within commuting distance of London, being around 41.8 miles away. Liphook is also close to the city of Chichester, which is about 16.5 miles away.
AdBlue drains in Liphook and across Hampshire
Over GU postcodes, our teams that cover Liphook — a rural village — work the surrounding locations too, Griggs Green and Cold Ash Hill included. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting GU30 7.
Your car remains where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Millennium Green, a side street near The Living Room Cinema: our technicians drain it where it is. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Liphook Library, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Liphook people, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Hampshire.