Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Little Basing: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Little Basing, catching it before the motor turns normally leaves draining and a full flush on the spot. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Not one liquid but two: that's what plenty of newer diesels near Little Basing and South View carry, with diesel for your engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place the two together behind one flap. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt call-out, again and again. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what cap it needs. It's in that gap that the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Little Basing: how it takes place
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Harvest Way, or at Cromwell Inn on the way home after work.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
Lastly, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and once the pour starts, no part halts it. Whether it occurs in Daneshill or the middle of Little Basing, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Be it a Little Basing forecourt or a driveway out in Eastrop, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Basingstoke.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Hampshire that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Higher Mead.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, but it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Discover during the second or third step that the bottle went into the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Little Basing?
Do not start your motor: that's how the short order of things begins. Keep the ignition off as well, because on many diesels it by itself starts the pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Tesco, Texaco or any forecourt will usually help pushing your car clear if you ask. If you are on your own drive around Little Basing, leave it where it sits.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M3, under 3 miles from Little Basing, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Little Basing is less a job than a trip of under 25 miles towards Winchester, so say.
What occurs when our engineers get there in Little Basing
Wherever your car came to rest, be it outside Great Binfields Primary School, near Three Geese or on your own drive, the van comes to it. The replies settle the work and the price, so our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run. Nobody sets off until you've heard our quote by phone.
Then the tank is drained and the system flushed 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. The filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the car. Before we go, our engineers start the car and check that it's running smoothly.
Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Little Basing itself
Little Basing is a suburban area situated on the River Loddon in Hampshire, with a mix of residential and rural landscapes. Little Basing has a relatively low elevation of 76 metres and is located near the larger towns of Basingstoke and Winchester. Little Basing is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is close to nearby places such as Daneshill and Old Basing. Little Basing is also within commuting distance of London, being around 43 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Little Basing, and Hampshire beyond
Old Basing and Chineham are among the towns around Little Basing, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over RG postcodes. Fastest of all: quote a RG24 8 postcode for the van.
Your car stays put. Wherever it stands — near Standing Stones, in a layby en route to Daneshill Parks Woods, at home — that is where it is emptied. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Chineham Library, close to a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
For Little Basing people, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the car switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Hampshire.