AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Norton Hill: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
Keep your engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Caught before your motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Norton Hill. Not happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the engine — but many newer diesels driven round Norton Hill and Westfield carry another fluid too. 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, side by side: that is the layout on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. Much less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Norton Hill
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Lynton Road before work, or in the car park outside Riverside heading home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar car.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, carries on. It's a few seconds, whether in Midsomer Norton or right in the heart of Norton Hill.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Waterside or a forecourt in Norton Hill.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of cars show what goes in which filler just there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check as you pick up a hire car or company car — at Oldfield Park's car park, say — rather than once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Somerset that is.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Lyndhurst Road on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've located the filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Step five stays off limits.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Norton Hill?
Don't start the engine: that's how the short order of things starts. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so leave it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — Shell, Esso or any other — the attendants will usually help roll the vehicle away, if you ask. Your own driveway around Norton Hill is the place it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. Norton Hill lies under 15 miles from the M32; there, take the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Norton Hill is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles towards Bath, and so say.
Norton Hill: what happens when we arrive
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside St Benedict's Catholic Primary School, close to Midsomer Norton or on your own drive. Those answers decide this work and the quote, so we ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. The price is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Then your tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out by itself. That is why it counts more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The engine is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians leave.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Norton Hill and where it is
Norton Hill is a suburban area in Somerset, situated near the River Somer and the town of Midsomer Norton. Norton Hill sits at an elevation of around 128 metres, with views of the surrounding countryside and the nearby city of Bath. Norton Hill is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its development as a residential area. Norton Hill is located approximately 8.7 miles from Bath and 102.5 miles from London.
AdBlue drains in Norton Hill and across Somerset
Norton Hill is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, Providence Place and White Post among them, across the BA postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BA3 4.
The car stays where it is. Wherever it stands — beside Mardons Social Club, on a layby en route to Pratten's Bowls Club, on a drive — that's where it gets drained. Awkward to explain, like the back of St Peter's Westfield? By a county line? Checking beats guessing, and so phone.
The short version for Norton Hill drivers
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Somerset.