Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lower Twitchen: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, leave your ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Lower Twitchen, catching it before the engine runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Plenty of modern diesels in Thornehillhead, like those in Lower Twitchen, run on two liquids; the engine gets only your diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at each filling station visit, week in, week out. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think which filler to use. The slip lives in that gap.
Lower Twitchen: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Scratchface Lane, or heading home in the car park at the pub in the village.
Unfamiliar vehicles come next, as well. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap 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 tip once it has started. Whether it happens in Eckworthy or the middle of Lower Twitchen, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Lower Twitchen forecourt or a drive out in Parkham, take a couple of seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- On plenty of cars, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — wherever you are across Devon — a routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Gorwood Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check again — making sure your diesel filler remained shut the whole time. After that, start the car.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Don't go on to step five.
Lower Twitchen: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts your pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, Asda or any other — the staff will normally help push your car clear, when you ask. If you're on your own drive around Lower Twitchen, leave the car where it stands.
When your engine has run already, stop somewhere safe then switch it off. On the M5, under 50 miles from Lower Twitchen, that means the next exit. A short hop across Lower Twitchen is a smaller job than a run towards Exeter, under 50 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
When our engineers arrive around Lower Twitchen, what takes place?
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Parkham Primary School, near Allardice Hall or on your own drive. The answers decide the work and our price, so we ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Then your tank is cleared and the system purged thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Lower Twitchen, briefly
Lower Twitchen is a small locality in Devon, situated in a riverside setting with a mix of detached homes and rural landscapes. Lower Twitchen has a population of around 520 people and is located near other small places such as Eckworthy and Powlers Piece. Lower Twitchen sits at an elevation of 145 metres, close to the rolling hills and countryside of the South West region. Lower Twitchen is approximately 36 miles from the city of Exeter and 184 miles from London.
AdBlue drains about Lower Twitchen, and Devon beyond
Over EX postcodes, our teams covering Lower Twitchen — a small village — work the surrounding locations too, Tythecott and Powlers Piece included. A postcode starting EX39 5 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle remains where it is. Anywhere it stands — beside Parkham Village Sign, in a lay-by en route to Melbury Plantation, at home — that's where it gets drained. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St James? Close to a border? Checking beats assuming, and so phone.
The short version for Lower Twitchen motorists
First, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Devon.