AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lower Cam: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
Stop here for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Lower Cam. Reading before the event? Then what follows covers why it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to the motor — yet plenty of current diesels seen about Lower Cam and Norman Hill hold a second liquid as well. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray treats the gas.
Each tank has one filler of its own. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
Lower Cam: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running out leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Noel Lee Way, perhaps outside Berkeley Arms on the way home that evening.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Fairmead or the middle of Lower Cam: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Lower Cam forecourt or a drive over in Upper Cam, spend a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Cam & Dursley? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is across Gloucestershire — a simple routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Cam Pitch, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find during the second or third step that AdBlue went into the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Step five is out.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Lower Cam already?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Shell, the Texaco or anywhere else. On your own drive in Lower Cam? So the vehicle remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Come off the M5 — under a mile out of Lower Cam — at the next exit. Mileage counts — a short hop across Lower Cam makes a smaller job than heading under 15 miles towards Gloucester — so say about how far it went.
When we turn up in Lower Cam, what occurs?
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, whether by Cam Hopton Church of England Primary School, beside Lower Cam War Memorial or at home, the van travels to it. Our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run, since the answers decide this work and the quote. That quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. Hence it matters more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before leaving, our engineers start the engine and make sure that it is running correctly.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit from arrival. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Lower Cam and where it is
Lower Cam is a suburban area situated on the banks of the River Cam, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Lower Cam benefits from its proximity to Gloucester, being around 12 miles from the city centre, and is also relatively close to other nearby places such as Fairmead and Summerhayes. Lower Cam has a population of approximately 3569 people and is located at an elevation of 63 metres above sea level. Lower Cam is connected to the wider region by its road links, including those leading to London, which is around 97 miles away.
Lower Cam and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Lower Cam is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Summerhayes and Cam among them, across the GL postcode area. A postcode starting GL11 5 gets the van to you fastest.
Your car stays put. Anywhere it stands — beside St Bartholomews Church, on a layby heading to Rackfields Nature Reserve, on a drive — that's where it gets cleared. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Arthur S Winterbotham Memorial Hall.
The short version for Lower Cam people
Before you pour, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it stands, anywhere in Gloucestershire: keep the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.