Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Marston Gate: Why It Occurs
Pause reading a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Marston Gate. Here in advance? Then the rest covers how it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels in Tytherington, like those in Marston Gate, carry on two fluids; the motor takes only your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has one filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on every filling station visit, again and again. 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. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Marston Gate
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Marston Lane, or heading home in the car park outside Masons Arms.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Marston Gate or out in Little Keyford.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these first, at a forecourt around Marston Gate or a drive out in Keyford. A few seconds, that's all.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to your diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Frome.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever in Somerset, use this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Court's Barton.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Marston Gate: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Short list, then. Top of it: your engine remains off. Keep the ignition off as well, because on many diesels it alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Sainsbury's, the Texaco or anywhere else. On your own drive in Marston Gate? So the vehicle stays where it is.
Already run? Stop when it's safe, then switch off. The next junction means the place to come off when you are on the M4, under 25 miles from Marston Gate. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Marston Gate is smaller work than a trip of under 15 miles towards Bath, so say.
Marston Gate: what occurs when we turn up
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Christ Church First School, close to Wesley Methodist Church or on your own drive. What fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask since the replies set the work and price. That quote is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we go, we fire it up and confirm that it's running correctly.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Marston Gate
Marston Gate is a suburban area in Somerset, situated inland at an elevation of 109 metres, approximately 11.5 miles from the city of Bath. Marston Gate is characterized by its semi-detached housing and is located near other small settlements such as Little Keyford and Critchill. Marston Gate has a population of around 1123 residents and is part of the wider commuter belt around Bath. Marston Gate is also relatively close to the regional hub, being 97.4 miles from London.
Marston Gate and Somerset: AdBlue drains across the area
Marston Gate is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Critchill and The Butts among them, across the BA postcode area. Give a postcode beginning BA11 4, and our van arrives quickest.
Shifting the vehicle isn't needed. Anywhere it sits — beside Christ Church, in a lay-by heading to Mary Bailey Playing Fields, on a drive — that is where it gets cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Frome Town Council? By a county line? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
The short version for Marston Gate motorists
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Somerset, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.