How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Longworth
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. In Longworth, finding it before your engine turns normally leaves draining and a full flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of current diesels on the roads about Longworth and Newbridge carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think what cap it needs. That gap is where the slip lives.
Longworth: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Tuck's Lane before work, or in the car park outside The Blue Boar on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar car.
Third, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as readily, and after the pour starts, nothing stops it. It's seconds, whether in Hinton Waldrist or bang in the heart of Longworth.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Longworth or a drive out in Netherton. Seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it beside the diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask as you collect a rental or company car — at Oxford's car park, perhaps — not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Oxfordshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of High Street, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, confirm it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Longworth?
Do not start your motor: that is where the short order of things starts. Keep the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it by itself runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Pace or the BP, ask the attendants to help push the car away from the pump. Your own driveway around Longworth is the place it should stay.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the Wheatley Spur, under 15 miles from Longworth, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Longworth is smaller a job than a run of under 10 miles towards Oxford, and so say.
What happens when our technicians arrive around Longworth
By Longworth Primary School, near Longworth Village Hall or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — what fluid, what amount, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Your engine is started next and tested to confirm it runs correctly, all before our technicians leave.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Longworth and where it is
Longworth is a small village in Oxfordshire, situated approximately 8.8 miles west of Oxford and 57.6 miles from London. Longworth sits in a rural area at an elevation of around 93 metres, surrounded by nearby villages such as Hinton Waldrist and Southmoor. Longworth has a population of around 542 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Oxfordshire, Longworth included
As a rural village, Longworth has the same vans as nearby areas — Southmoor, Kingston Bagpuize — all the way through OX postcodes and the wider area around them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting OX13 5.
Moving the car is not needed. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a road near St Mary's Church, or a layby towards Kingstone Brake. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Hinton Waldris Village Hall.
The short version for Longworth drivers
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it stands, wherever across Oxfordshire: keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.