AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Minley: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Stop here a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Minley, finding it before the engine runs usually means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels on the roads around Minley and Yateley carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. 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 goes in on every filling station call-out, week in, week out. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Minley: how it occurs
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Ripon Road, or on the way home in the car park outside The Ely.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after begun, keeps on. Cricket Hill or the heart of Minley: it is the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Hawley or a forecourt in Minley, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- On many vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Fleet.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Hampshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Southwood Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Both under a single flap? So confirm the lid on the diesel filler is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Step five stays out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Minley already?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — so leave it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the staff to help push your car clear of the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Shell, the Esso or anywhere else. If you are on your own drive around Minley, leave the car where it sits.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Minley lies under 3 miles from the M3; on it, use the first junction. A short hop across Minley is a smaller job than a run towards Winchester, under 50 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our engineers get there around Minley
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Potley Hill Primary School, close to St Andrew or on your own driveway. Those answers determine the work and our quote, so we ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run. During the phone call itself, you are told the quote — before anything else.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes away unaided. Hence it matters more. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Your engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs correctly, all before we go.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after we arrive, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Minley, briefly
Minley is a locality in Hampshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 101 metres, approximately 32.5 miles from London. Minley lies near several other small places, including Cricket Hill, Darby Green, and Frogmore, and is close to the city of Winchester, which is 27.7 miles away. Minley has a population of around 1041 people and is characterised by a predominance of flat housing. Minley is part of the wider South East region of England, with its residents likely commuting to nearby cities for work and amenities.
AdBlue drains around Minley and across Hampshire
Minley is a small village, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Darby Green and Frogmore among them, across the GU postcode area. A postcode starting GU17 9 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to shift the vehicle. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Hawley Lake Sail Training Center, a lay-by on the way to Yateley Common, a drive. Assuming doesn't help behind History Hub, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
For Minley people, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere in Hampshire.