Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Middle Crackington
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. In Middle Crackington, catching it before the motor runs usually means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. Reading before the event? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels on the roads round Middle Crackington and Mineshope carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Many of vehicles share a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. The error lives in that gap.
Middle Crackington: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Haven Road, or heading home in the car park at The Coombe Barton Inn.
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 hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as readily, and once the pour begins, nothing stops it. It's a few seconds, whether in Sweets or bang in the heart of Middle Crackington.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these first, at a forecourt around Middle Crackington or a drive over in Hill. Seconds, no more.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it beside your diesel filler? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at the nearest station? Check with the person who drove it last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
When the light comes on, anywhere across Cornwall, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Cambeak Close, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both share a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Leave out step five entirely.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Middle Crackington already?
Do not start the engine: that is how the short order of things starts. Leave the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts the fuel pump. Do not 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.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Gulf or the another forecourt nearby, ask the staff to help roll your car away from the pump. On your own drive around Middle Crackington? So the vehicle stays put.
Already run? Pull over once it is sensible, then turn off. Leave the M5 — under 50 miles out of Middle Crackington — at the next exit. Distance counts — a quick hop across Middle Crackington makes a smaller job than driving under 50 miles towards Plymouth — so tell us about how far it went.
Middle Crackington: what happens when our engineers arrive
Wherever your car has stopped, be it by Otterham Community Primary School, near Crackington Institute or on your own drive, our van travels to it. What fluid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since those replies decide the work and price. No one sets off until you have had the price over the phone.
Then that tank is cleared and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out unaided. That is why it matters more. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your car. We don't go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our technicians arrive, as long as your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Middle Crackington, for a moment
Middle Crackington is a small village in Cornwall, situated on the north coast with views out to the Atlantic Ocean. Middle Crackington sits at an elevation of 122 metres, surrounded by rolling hills and scenic valleys. Middle Crackington is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting and relatively small population of around 502 residents.
Middle Crackington and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Middle Crackington is a coastal village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Higher Crackington and Lower Crackington among them, across the EX postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting EX23 0.
The vehicle stays where it is. Draining happens on the spot, whether a drive, a road by St Gennys Church, or a lay-by on the way to Ludon Wood. Assuming won't help behind Pencannow Point, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
In short, for Middle Crackington drivers
First, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around Cornwall, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.