Lowertown: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop here a minute when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Lowertown. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it takes place and the how to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels in Sithney Common, like those in Lowertown, carry on two liquids; the engine gets only the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually comes from a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think what filler it needs. That gap is where the mistake lives.
Lowertown: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Gwavas Hill before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village on the way home.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have 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 after it has started. It takes seconds, whether out in Gwavas or right in the centre of Lowertown.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Check these first, at a forecourt around Lowertown or a drive over in Helston. Seconds, that's all.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many cars show which goes in which inlet right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Camborne.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — anywhere it is across Cornwall — a simple routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Water ma Trout, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off first.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you have found the filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, confirm it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Stop once your tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently through the built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Lowertown?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Keep your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts the fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Texaco, Tesco or any other — the attendants will normally help push the vehicle clear, when you ask. Your own driveway in Lowertown is where it stays.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then turn off. The next exit is the place to leave when you are on the M5, over 50 miles from Lowertown. Distance matters — a short hop across Lowertown is a smaller job than heading under 15 miles to Truro — so tell us about how far it went.
When our engineers get there in Lowertown, what occurs?
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, whether outside Trannack Primary School, near Light and Life Centre or at home, the van comes to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run, because those replies determine the work and the quote. During the call itself, you hear the price — before dispatch.
Then that tank is emptied and the system flushed thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of that clears away unaided, however long it is left. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we leave, our technicians start it and confirm that it is running smoothly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run need roughly half an hour once our technicians are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Lowertown itself
Lowertown is a small suburban area in Cornwall, situated near the coast at an elevation of 34 metres. Lowertown lies within a short distance of several nearby places, including Gwavas, Coverack Bridges, and Sithney Green. Lowertown is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its residential nature. Lowertown is located approximately 14 miles from Truro, the nearest city.
AdBlue drains about Lowertown, and Cornwall beyond
As a residential suburb, Lowertown has the same vans as nearby areas — Coverack Bridges, Sithney Green — right across TR postcodes and the wider area beyond. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting TR13 0.
Moving the vehicle isn't needed. Wherever it sits — near Helston Sports Centre, in a layby en route to Seneschall Park Green, at home — that's where it is drained. Assuming doesn't help behind Truthall Manor, close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
Lowertown drivers: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Cornwall, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.