Little Lyde: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop here for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the motor hasn't run, it is drained and fully flushed where the vehicle sits in Little Lyde. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that is how many newer diesels around Little Lyde and Crofton Park run, with diesel feeding your motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
There is a filler on each tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on many motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Little Lyde: how it occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a drive off Sandringham Road before work, or in the car park at Pen Mill Hotel heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches 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 once it has started. It's a few seconds, whether in Pen Mill or right in the heart of Little Lyde.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Little Lyde forecourt or a drive over in Yeovil, take a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the flap and check for a label — plenty of motors show which belongs in which filler just there.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Yeovil Pen Mill, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere across Somerset the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and never in a rush by Rosebery Avenue at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Both behind one flap? Then make sure the cap on the diesel filler stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, shut the cap and look again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Little Lyde: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Texaco, the Esso or anywhere else. If you are on your own driveway in Little Lyde, leave it where it is.
Where the engine has been run by now, pull over somewhere safe and turn the car off. The next exit is the place to leave when you are on the M5, under 25 miles from Little Lyde. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Wells, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Little Lyde.
When our technicians arrive around Little Lyde, what happens?
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Pen Mill Infant and Nursery Academy, near St Michael & All Angels or on your own drive. What liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers decide both work and price. Nobody sets off until you have had the quote over the phone.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a full flush of your system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we leave, we start the engine and make sure that it's running smoothly.
If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Little Lyde
Little Lyde is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Somerset, with an elevation of 43 metres above sea level. Little Lyde lies near the cities of Wells and Yeovil, and is close to nearby places such as Pen Mill and New Town. Little Lyde has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by terraced homes. Little Lyde is located approximately 114 miles west of London, making it a relatively rural suburb in the South West region.
AdBlue drains round Little Lyde, and Somerset beyond
As a residential suburb, Little Lyde shares its vans nearby places — New Town, Goar Knap — right across BA postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting BA21 5 gets the van to you fastest.
Shifting your car is not needed. The drain takes place on the spot, whether a driveway, a road by TK Maxx, or a lay-by on the way to Riverside Walk. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Yeovil Islamic Centre, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In short, for Little Lyde motorists
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere around Somerset.