Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Longstone
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. In Longstone, finding it before the engine runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. Here before the event? In that case what follows covers how it happens and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of current diesels on the roads about Longstone and Trewartha carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
There's a filler on every tank. Plenty of motors share a single flap for the two, while others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on every filling station call-out, week in, week out. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Longstone: how it takes place
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Hendra Vean before work, or in the car park outside The Cornish Arms heading home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, carries on. It takes a few seconds, whether in Carbis Bay or bang in the centre of Longstone.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Griggs or a forecourt around Longstone, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- The handbook says which it lives if your filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check as you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Carbis Bay's car park, perhaps — rather than once the light appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Cornwall that is.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Trewartha Estate.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The two behind one flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel filler stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Stage five is out.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Longstone?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. Leave the ignition off too, since on many diesels switching it on by itself runs your fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Texaco or the another forecourt nearby, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. On your own drive in Longstone? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Longstone sits over 50 miles from the M5; on it, take the next junction. A short hop across Longstone is a smaller job than a run towards Truro, under 25 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
When we turn up in Longstone, what happens?
The van comes to the vehicle wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, beside cemetery chapel, or by St Uny CofE Academy. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what liquid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so we ask. No one heads out until you've had our quote by phone.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. 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. A test comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed if necessary. The engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians head off.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour visit from arrival. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Longstone itself
Longstone is a suburban area in Cornwall, situated on the coast near Carbis Bay and Lelant. Longstone sits at an elevation of 87 metres, overlooking the surrounding coastline and within commuting distance of Truro, the nearest city. Longstone has a population of around 2279 people, predominantly living in detached housing. Longstone is located approximately 249.7 miles from London, making it a relatively remote but accessible community.
AdBlue drains around Longstone, and Cornwall beyond
Trevarrack and Lelant are among the towns around Longstone, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over TR postcodes. Give a postcode beginning TR26 2, and our van gets there quickest.
Shifting the vehicle is not needed. Wherever it stands — beside St Anta and All Saints, in a layby en route to Cubit Plantation, at home — that is where it gets cleared. Assuming doesn't help at the back of St Ives Archive, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
The short version for Longstone motorists
Tip no AdBlue till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep the car off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Cornwall.