Offenham Cross: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, keep your ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Offenham Cross. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
No single fluid but two: that's how many modern diesels around Offenham Cross and Aldington carry, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
There's a filler on each tank. Plenty of motors have a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every filling station visit, week in, week out. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Offenham Cross
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
Haste comes from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Merry Lane, or heading home in the car park at Bridge Inn.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar car.
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 once it has started. It takes a few seconds, be it in Blackminster or bang in the heart of Offenham Cross.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Middle Littleton or a forecourt in Offenham Cross.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many cars, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Evesham, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — wherever it is across Worcestershire — a routine to follow.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, motor off, and not in a rush by The Cross at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look once more — confirm your diesel cap remained closed the whole time. After that, start your car.
Find during the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Offenham Cross?
Don't start the engine: that is where the short order of things starts. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — HGV, Texaco or another — the attendants will usually help push your car away, when you ask. If you are on your own drive in Offenham Cross, leave the vehicle where it is.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the Strensham Interchange, under 15 miles from Offenham Cross, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Offenham Cross is smaller a job than a trip of under 15 miles to Worcester, so tell us.
Our arrival around Offenham Cross, and what happens next
By Offenham Church of England First School, close to Offenham Village Hall or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because those replies settle this work and our quote. The price is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes out unaided, however long it sits. The filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a test of the vehicle. The motor is started next and tested to be sure it runs correctly, all before we go.
If the engine hasn't run, most 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. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Offenham Cross and where it is
Offenham Cross is a riverside locality in Worcestershire, situated near the River Avon at an elevation of 32 metres. Offenham Cross lies within the West Midlands region, approximately 14.6 miles from Worcester and 86.6 miles from London. Offenham Cross is characterised by its semi-detached housing and is located near other local places such as Blackminster and Offenham.
Offenham Cross and Worcestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Offenham Cross is a small village, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Offenham and South Littleton among them, across the WR postcode area. A postcode starting WR11 8 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle remains where it is. Anywhere it stands — near St Michael, in a lay-by heading to Village Garden, at home — that is where it is cleared. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Mary & St Milburgh, ring and ask instead of guessing.
For Offenham Cross motorists, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Worcestershire.