Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Overslade
Stop reading for a moment if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Overslade. Here in advance? In that case the rest covers why it happens and how to stop it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the motor — but plenty of current diesels seen round Overslade and Cawston hold a second fluid as well. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Plenty of motors share a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Overslade: how it takes place
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
On a driveway off Overslade Manor Drive before work, or in the car park at The Griffin heading home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
Nothing stops the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Bilton or the heart of Overslade: it is the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, at a forecourt in Overslade or a drive over in Lime Tree Village. Seconds, that's all.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in your 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 — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Rugby.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Warwickshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Overslade Lane, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — after you've found the filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Overslade already?
Don't start your engine: that is where the short order of things starts. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — and so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Sainsburys or the Texaco, ask the staff to help push your car clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Overslade.
Already started? Pull over once it's sensible, then turn off. The next junction is the place to leave if you're on the M45, under 3 miles from Overslade. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Coventry, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Overslade.
What takes place when our engineers arrive in Overslade
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Rokeby Primary School, near Overslade Community Church or on your own driveway. What fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask because those answers set both work and price. That price comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of it clears out unaided. Hence it matters more. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Before we go, our technicians fire it up and make sure that it's running smoothly.
Unrun cars usually need a half-hour job from arrival. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Overslade, briefly
Overslade is a suburban area in Warwickshire, situated near the River Avon and close to the cities of Coventry and Rugby. Overslade sits at an elevation of 118 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Overslade is located near several nearby places, including Bilton, Rugby, and New Bilton, and is approximately 10.4 miles from Coventry. Overslade has a population of around 6521 residents.
AdBlue drains across Warwickshire, Overslade included
Overslade is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Rugby and New Bilton among them, across the CV postcode area. A postcode starting CV22 6 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle doesn't need to shift. We drain it where it is — a side street close to St Mark, a lay-by on the way to Rokeby Open Space, a driveway. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St Marie, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Overslade people
Pour nothing till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around Warwickshire.