Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mount Pleasant
Pause here a minute when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where the car stands around Mount Pleasant, is usually what it takes when caught before the engine runs. Reading before the event? In that case the rest explains how it comes about and what to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that's how many modern diesels around Mount Pleasant and Linden Village carry, with diesel feeding the motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
There's a filler on each tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in at each forecourt call-out, again and again. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
Mount Pleasant: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Embleton Way before work, or in the car park outside The Mitre on the way home.
Unfamiliar motors come second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it 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, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. Whether it takes place in Buckingham or the middle of Mount Pleasant, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Whether a Mount Pleasant forecourt or a driveway out in Lenborough, take a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many cars show which belongs in each inlet just there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Bicester North, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
The day the light comes on, wherever across Buckinghamshire, use this routine.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Clover End.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have located your filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour slowly using the own spout.
- Shut the cap, and check again — making sure the diesel filler stayed closed the whole time. After that, start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Mount Pleasant?
Do not start the engine: that's where the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the W Ganderton & Son, ask the attendants to help roll your car clear of the pump. Your own drive in Mount Pleasant is where it stays.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction means the place to come off when you're on the M40, under 10 miles from Mount Pleasant. A short hop across Mount Pleasant is a smaller job than a run towards Milton Keynes, under 15 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when we turn up in Mount Pleasant
The van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, beside The Film Place, or outside George Grenville Academy. What liquid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since those replies decide the work and price. During the phone call itself, you are told the price — before dispatch.
Draining the tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of that clears away on its own, however long it sits. Filter flushed or, where needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of the car. Your engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians head off.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant is a suburban area in Buckinghamshire, situated near the River Great Ouse and characterised by its detached housing stock. Mount Pleasant sits at an elevation of 87 metres, with views of the surrounding countryside and proximity to nearby places such as Buckingham and Stratford Fields. Mount Pleasant is located near the city of Milton Keynes, which provides access to amenities and services for its residents. Mount Pleasant has a population of approximately 3036 people, living in a mix of old and new properties.
Mount Pleasant and Buckinghamshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Mount Pleasant has the same vans as surrounding areas — Stratford Fields, The Badgers — right across MK postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quickest of all: give a MK18 1 postcode to the van.
Moving the vehicle isn't needed. Anywhere it stands — beside University Library, on a lay-by heading to St Rumbolds Park, at home — that is where it gets emptied. Tricky to pin down, like the back of St Rumbold's Well? Close to a border? Asking is better than guessing, so phone.
In short, for Mount Pleasant motorists
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it stands, wherever in Buckinghamshire: switch the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.