AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Milford on Sea: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, keep your ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where the car stands around Milford on Sea, is normally what it needs when found before your motor runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it occurs and the how to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Not one liquid but two: that's what many modern diesels near Milford on Sea and Everton carry, with diesel feeding your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on many motors. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. It's in the gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Milford on Sea
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off High Street before work, or in the car park outside The Red Lion on the way home.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand hits 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, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it takes place in Lymore or the middle of Milford on Sea, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Leagreen or a forecourt in Milford on Sea.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — plenty of cars show which goes in each inlet right there.
- The handbook shows where it lives when your filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Lymington Town, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — anywhere it is in Hampshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of River Gardens.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, make sure it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
Milford on Sea: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief list, then. Top of it: your engine remains unstarted. Keep the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Shell, Tesco or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car away when asked. If you're on your own driveway in Milford on Sea, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Already run? Pull over once it's safe, then switch off. On the M27, under 15 miles from Milford on Sea, that means the next exit. Distance counts — a quick hop across Milford on Sea is a smaller job than heading under 15 miles to Southampton — so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our engineers arrive around Milford on Sea
The van reaches the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, beside New forest paddle sport, or outside Milford-on-Sea Church of England Primary School. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — what fluid, what amount, and if it has run — so we ask. The price is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. Hence it matters more. A test is last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Then our engineers start the engine and confirm it runs smoothly before leaving.
Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. No money upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Milford on Sea and where it is
Milford on Sea is a coastal village in Hampshire, situated on the south coast of England, with a low elevation of around 5 metres above sea level. Milford on Sea lies near the towns of Lymington and Christchurch, and is close to the nearby villages of Lymore, Keyhaven, and Downton. Milford on Sea has a population of approximately 1365 people, and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Milford on Sea is located about 14.8 miles from Southampton and 83.3 miles from London.
AdBlue drains round Milford on Sea, and Hampshire beyond
Milford on Sea is a coastal village, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Keyhaven and Downton among them, across the SO postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a SO41 0 postcode to our van.
The vehicle stays where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to The Green, a side street close to Milford village hall and library: our technicians drain the vehicle where it is. Guessing won't help behind The Bridge Community Centre, close to a border, or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
For Milford on Sea motorists, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Hampshire.