Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in North Town
Keep the motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. In North Town, finding it before the engine runs normally means draining and a full flush on the spot. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
No single liquid but two: that's what many newer diesels near North Town and North Camp carry, with diesel for the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Plenty of motors have a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at each forecourt call-out, again and again. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in North Town: how it occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and running dry leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Redan Road, or outside The Crimea Inn on the way home after work.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Nothing stops the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of North Town or out in Montgomery Lines.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Tongham or a forecourt around North Town, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it is when your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Aldershot? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Hampshire that is.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and never in a rush beside North Lane at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, shut the cap and check again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Find at the second or third step that AdBlue went in the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Leave out stage five altogether.
North Town: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Short order, then. First: the engine stays off. Keep your ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it alone runs your fuel pump. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Gulf or the BP, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around North Town.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. The next exit is where to leave when you are on the M3, under 5 miles from North Town. A short hop across North Town is a smaller job than a run towards Winchester, under 50 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
When we turn up in North Town, what happens?
The van reaches your car anywhere it stopped — your own drive, beside North Town Community Centre, or by Stanhope Primary School. The replies determine the work and the price, so our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run. No one sets off before you've heard the quote by phone.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Before we leave, our technicians start it and check that it's running correctly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor has not run take about half an hour once our technicians are there. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About North Town
North Town is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Hampshire, with an elevation of 73 metres. North Town lies approximately 31.9 miles from London and 27.9 miles from the nearest city, Winchester. North Town has a population of around 6002 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. North Town is close to nearby places such as Montgomery Lines, Aldershot, and Ash.
AdBlue drains around North Town, and Hampshire beyond
North Town is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Aldershot and Ash among them, across the GU postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a GU12 4 postcode to our van.
Your car does not need to move. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to The Close, a side street near 1st Aldershot Scout Group: our technicians drain it where it is. Tricky to pin down, like the back of St Augustine's Church Hall? Close to a county line? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
The short version for North Town people
First, the cap; then, the pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, wherever around Hampshire: switch it off and ring 0333 366 0103.