Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lodbourne
Stop reading a minute if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the engine hasn't run, it is drained and fully cleaned where your car is around Lodbourne. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels around Colesbrook, as well as Lodbourne, run on two liquids; the engine takes just the diesel. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on many motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
Lodbourne: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
On a drive off Turners Lane before work, or in the car park at The Phoenix Inn on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your 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. Whether it happens in Gillingham or the middle of Lodbourne, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Bowridge Hill or a forecourt in Lodbourne, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Plenty of motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- The handbook says which it lives if the filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Gillingham (Dorset)'s car park, say — rather than when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere around Dorset the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Cypress Way.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — making sure your diesel cap remained closed throughout. Only then, start your car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Lodbourne?
Don't start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. Leave your ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it alone runs the pump. AdBlue doesn't 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.
At a forecourt — Esso, Shell or another — the staff will usually help roll your car clear, if you ask. If you are on your own driveway in Lodbourne, leave the car where it is.
Already run? Stop once it is sensible, then switch off. Lodbourne lies under 50 miles from the M5; on it, use the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Lodbourne is less work than a run of under 25 miles to Wells, and so say.
Our arrival in Lodbourne, and what occurs next
Wherever the car came to rest, whether outside Gillingham Primary School, beside St Mary the Virgin or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, since those replies decide this work and the quote. During the call itself, you hear the price — ahead of dispatch.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. Hence it counts more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before our engineers go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after we arrive, as long as the motor has not 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, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Lodbourne and where it is
Lodbourne is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Dorset, with a mix of housing types but predominantly detached homes. Lodbourne sits at an elevation of 77 metres, near the towns of Gillingham and Wells, and is part of the larger South West region of England. Lodbourne is located near other smaller places such as Cold Harbour and Peacemarsh, and is about 98 miles from London. Lodbourne has a population of around 3924 residents.
AdBlue drains round Lodbourne, and Dorset beyond
As a residential suburb, Lodbourne has the same vans as nearby places — Cold Harbour, Peacemarsh — all the way through SP postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SP8 4.
Your car does not need to shift. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Garden of Remembrance, a side street near Gillingham Youth & Community Centre: our technicians drain the vehicle where it sits. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St Benedict, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In short, for Lodbourne people
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave the car switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Dorset.