Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in New Town: Why It Occurs
Keep your engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Around New Town, catching it before your motor turns usually leaves draining and a full flush on the spot. Here in advance? In that case what follows explains why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Many current diesels on the roads around New Town and Knapp carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in on each filling station call-out, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around New Town
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a driveway off Knighton Road before work, or in the car park at The Queens Head heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode follows.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
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 tip after it has started. Broad Chalke or the heart of New Town: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Stoke Farthing or a forecourt in New Town.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- Plenty of motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — many vehicles show what goes in each filler right there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask when you pick up a hire car or company car — at Tisbury's car park, say — not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Wiltshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Bury Lane.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two share a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look once more — making sure the diesel cap stayed shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Stage five stays out.
New Town: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Shell, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. On your own drive around New Town? Then the car stays put.
Already started? Stop when it is safe, then switch off. Come off the M27 — under 25 miles out of New Town — at the first junction. A short hop across New Town is a smaller job than a run towards Salisbury, under 10 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians get there around New Town, what happens?
Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Broad Chalke CofE Primary School, near Broad Chalke Village Hall or on your own drive. Those answers decide the work and the price, so we ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run. You get that price by phone, before anyone sets off.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, once the tank is drained. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals form, some metals are attacked, and nothing washes away on its own, no matter how long it sits. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We don't go until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About New Town itself
New Town is a small suburban area in Wiltshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 88 metres. New Town lies close to the city of Salisbury, approximately 6.9 miles away, and is near other local places such as Broad Chalke and The Marsh. New Town has a population of around 659 people and predominantly features detached housing. New Town is also within commuting distance of London, being around 85.1 miles away.
New Town and Wiltshire: AdBlue drains across the area
New Town is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places around it, Mount Sorrel and The Marsh among them, across the SP postcode area. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SP5 5.
Shifting the car isn't necessary. Anywhere it sits — beside All Saints, in a lay-by en route to Poor Patch, at home — that's where it is drained. Guessing won't help at the back of Sir Cecil Beaton, on a border, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
The short version for New Town drivers
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around Wiltshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.