Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lymington: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down a moment, leave the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done right where the car sits in Lymington, is normally all it needs when found before your engine runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many modern diesels on the roads round Lymington and Warborne carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
There is a filler on each tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every filling station call-out, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Lymington: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a drive off High Street before work, or in the car park outside The Angel & Blue Pig heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it is gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and once the tip starts, no part halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Lymington or out in Walhampton.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt in Lymington or a drive out in Buckland. A few seconds, that's all.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is when your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Lymington Town? Ask whoever drove the car last before leaving, not when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever in Hampshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of New Street.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have found the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Lymington?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Shell, Fuel Dock or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car away if asked. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Lymington.
When your engine has run by now, stop safely then turn the vehicle off. Lymington lies under 15 miles from the M27; there, take the next exit. A short hop across Lymington is a smaller job than a run towards Southampton, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Lymington, and what happens next
Anywhere the car came to rest, whether by Lymington Church of England Infant School, near Elliotts or at home, our van travels to it. We ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, since the answers determine this work and our price. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, after your tank is emptied. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. After that our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before we leave.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our engineers get there, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. It's worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Lymington, briefly
Lymington is a coastal town in southern Hampshire, situated on the south coast of England at an elevation of around 22 metres. Lymington lies approximately 11.8 miles southeast of Southampton and 80.2 miles southwest of London, with nearby villages including Walhampton, Lower Buckland, and Pennington. Lymington has a population of around 12,672 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains around Lymington and across Hampshire
Lymington is a coastal town, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Lower Buckland and Pennington among them, across the SO postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SO41 9.
Moving the vehicle isn't needed. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Grove Gardens, a side street near Lymington United Reformed Church: our technicians drain the vehicle where it sits. Tricky to explain, like the back of Saint Barbe Museum and Art Gallery? By a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
Lymington motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Hampshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.