Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Northend
Pause here a minute when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where the vehicle stands around Northend, is normally all it needs when caught before your engine runs. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single fluid but two: that's how many modern diesels near Northend and Upper Swainswick run, with diesel feeding your engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank has a filler of its own. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which filler it needs. The mistake lives in that gap.
Northend: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Hawkers Yard before work, or in the car park at George & Dragon on the way home.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after started, carries on. It takes seconds, be it in Batheaston or bang in the centre of Northend.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Bailbrook or a forecourt in Northend, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — many motors show what goes in each inlet just there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's 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 — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Bath Spa.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere around Somerset, use this routine.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and never in a rush beside Brow Hill at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays off limits.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Northend?
Short order, then. First: the motor remains off. Leave the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone runs the pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the Shell, ask the attendants to help push your car away from the petrol pump. Your own drive in Northend is where it should stay.
When your engine has run by now, stop somewhere safe then switch it off. The next exit is the place to leave when you're on the M4, under 10 miles from Northend. Distance counts — a short hop across Northend is a smaller job than driving under 3 miles towards Bath — so tell us about how far it went.
When we arrive in Northend, what takes place?
Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Batheaston Church School, near Suffragette Memorial or on your own driveway. What fluid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask because those replies decide both work and quote. During the call itself, you are told the quote — before anything else.
Draining the tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and none of it clears out on its own, no matter how long it sits. After the fuel filter is flushed — or renewed, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally the car gets tested. Then our engineers start it and check it runs properly before we leave.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor has not run take roughly half an hour once our engineers are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Northend, briefly
Northend is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Somerset, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 1316 residents. Northend lies close to the city of Bath, approximately 2.9 miles away, and is near other nearby places such as Batheaston and Bathford. Northend's elevation is around 47 metres above sea level, and it is located in a scenic area with easy access to the surrounding countryside. Northend is also within commuting distance to London, which is around 94.4 miles away.
AdBlue drains round Northend, and Somerset beyond
Throughout BA postcodes, the teams covering Northend — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Bathford and St Catherine among them. Give a postcode that starts BA1 8, and our van arrives quickest.
Your car stays put. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a street near 23rd Bath (Avonvale) Scout Hut, or a lay-by towards Batheaston Playing Field. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Batheaston New Village Hall.
Northend motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Somerset, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.