Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Modbury: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, keep your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Modbury. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels in Penquit, like those in Modbury, run on two fluids; the motor takes just the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. 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. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
Modbury: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Brownston Street before work, or in the car park outside The Exter Inn on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second thing: a new car.
No part stops the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Wastor or the heart of Modbury: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Westlake or a forecourt in Modbury.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it lives if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask when you collect a rental or company car — at Ivybridge's car park, say — not when the light appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever it is across Devon — a routine to follow.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Church Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Never go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Modbury already?
Brief list, then. Top of that: the engine remains off. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of that tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at BP, Tesco or another forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the car clear if asked. Your own drive around Modbury is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. The next junction means where to come off if you're on the M5, under 50 miles from Modbury. About how far did it go? Crossing Modbury is less work than a run of under 15 miles towards Plymouth, so say.
What happens when our technicians turn up around Modbury
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Modbury Primary School, close to Brownston Gallery or on your own drive. The answers determine the work and the quote, so our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run. During the call itself, you are told our price — ahead of anything else.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it matters more. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Next our technicians fire it up and check it runs correctly before we leave.
Unrun vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Modbury and where it is
Modbury is a village in Devon, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of 37 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Modbury lies approximately 11 miles from Plymouth and 182 miles from London, making it a rural community with easy access to larger cities. Modbury is surrounded by nearby villages such as Wastor, Ermington, and Ludbrook, and has a population of around 1687 residents. Modbury retains its rural character despite its proximity to urban areas.
AdBlue drains across Devon, Modbury included
Ermington and Ludbrook are among the places near Modbury, a village, that the same vans cover, throughout PL postcodes. A postcode starting PL21 0 gets the van to you fastest.
The car does not need to shift. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Modbury Memorial Hall, a lay-by on the way to Whympston Wood, a drive. Awkward to pin down, like the back of War Memorial? By a border? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
For Modbury people, the short version
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Devon.