Oakridge: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop here for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Oakridge, catching it before the engine runs normally leaves draining and a full flush on the spot. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the engine — but plenty of modern diesels driven round Oakridge and Houndmills hold another liquid as well. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on a lot of motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what cap to use. It is in that gap that the mistake happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur around Oakridge?
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Oakridge Road before work, or in the car park at The Popinjay heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: a strange vehicle.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once started, carries on. Whether it happens in Popley or the middle of Oakridge, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Be it a Oakridge forecourt or a drive over in Daneshill, take a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Basingstoke, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere in Hampshire, follow this routine.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Normanton Road.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — after you've located the filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Oakridge?
Don't start your engine: that is how the short order of things begins. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Texaco, the Tesco or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Oakridge.
Already run? Stop when it is sensible, then turn off. The next exit means where to come off if you are on the M3, under 3 miles from Oakridge. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Winchester, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Oakridge.
When we get there around Oakridge, what occurs?
Our van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near Oakridge West Community Centre, or outside South View Infant and Nursery School. Both the work and our price rest on three answers — what fluid, which quantity, and if it has run — so we ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing clears away unaided, however long it sits. The filter cleaned or, if needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of your vehicle. Your engine is started next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians head off.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Oakridge and where it is
Oakridge is a suburban area in Hampshire, situated inland at an elevation of 94 metres, and forms part of the larger Basingstoke urban area. Oakridge lies near the towns of Popley and South View, and is approximately 17.8 miles from Winchester. Oakridge has a population of around 8808 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Oakridge is also within commuting distance of London, being around 44.3 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Oakridge and across Hampshire
Oakridge is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places around it, South View and Basingstoke among them, across the RG postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting RG21 5.
No need to shift the vehicle. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Tewkesbury Close Open Space, a side street near Bemuda Hall: we drain the vehicle where it sits. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Sailing By Stars.
In short, for Oakridge drivers
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Hampshire.