AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lostwithiel: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your motor hasn't turned, it's emptied and thoroughly cleaned where your vehicle is in Lostwithiel. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
No single liquid but two: that's how plenty of modern diesels near Lostwithiel and Milltown carry, with diesel feeding your engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Other motors keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both side by side behind one flap. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around Lostwithiel
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Bodmin Hill, or heading home in the car park at Kings Arms Hotel.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: a strange motor.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once started, carries on. Whether it occurs in Bridgend or the middle of Lostwithiel, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Sandylake or a forecourt around Lostwithiel, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you collect a rental or fleet car — at the nearest station's car park, perhaps — not once the light appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever in Cornwall the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Fore Street.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — once you've found your filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Lostwithiel?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Gulf, Morrisons or another forecourt will normally help pushing the vehicle clear when asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Lostwithiel.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. The next exit is where to leave when you're on the M5, over 50 miles from Lostwithiel. A short hop across Lostwithiel is a smaller job than a run towards Truro, under 25 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our technicians arrive in Lostwithiel, what occurs?
Our van reaches the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near Lostwithiel Museum, or outside Lostwithiel School. Both the work and the quote rest on three answers — which fluid, which amount, and whether it's run — so we ask. That price is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. That is why it matters more. Filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a check of the car. We don't go until it has been started and is running properly.
Unrun cars usually mean a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. No money in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Lostwithiel, briefly
Lostwithiel is a town situated on the banks of the River Fowey in Cornwall, with a population of around 3067 people. Lostwithiel has a mix of housing types, but detached homes are the most common, and its low elevation of 13 metres above sea level reflects its riverside setting. Lostwithiel is located near several smaller communities, including Bridgend, Downend, and No Mans Land, and is within a short drive of the city of Truro. Lostwithiel remains a small but distinct town in the Cornish countryside, about 211 miles west of London.
AdBlue drains about Lostwithiel, and Cornwall beyond
Downend and No Mans Land are among the places around Lostwithiel, a riverside town, that the same teams cover, over PL postcodes. A postcode starting PL22 0 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car doesn't need to shift. Draining happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a street by Lostwithiel Library, or a layby towards King George V Playing Field. Guessing won't help behind St Bartholomew, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
In short, for Lostwithiel people
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in Cornwall, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.