Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Padstow
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Padstow. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the reasons it takes place and the how to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel goes to the engine — yet plenty of newer diesels seen around Padstow and Rock carry a second fluid too. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled on each filling station visit, again and again. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Padstow
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and running out means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Cross Street, or outside The Golden Lion Hotel on the way home after work.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after started, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Padstow or out in Trethillick.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Porthilly or a forecourt in Padstow, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it lives if the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from Roche's car park, say — rather than once the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — wherever it is around Cornwall — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Barry's Lane, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've located the filler and read it.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Finish once that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Leave out step five entirely.
Padstow: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Texaco, Gulf or any forecourt will normally help to push your car clear if asked. Your own drive in Padstow is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next junction means where to leave when you're on the M5, over 50 miles from Padstow. About how far did it go? Crossing Padstow is less a job than a trip of under 25 miles to Truro, and so tell us.
Our arrival around Padstow, and what takes place next
Wherever the car came to rest, be it outside Padstow School, near Little Theatre or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because those replies decide the work and the quote. No one heads out before you have had our price by phone.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. Filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; then a test of your vehicle. Before we go, our technicians start it and check that it's running correctly.
If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working 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. It's worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Padstow itself
Padstow is a small town on the north coast of Cornwall, situated on the west side of the Camel Estuary at an elevation of around 16 metres. Padstow has a population of approximately 2351 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Padstow is located near several smaller settlements, including Trethillick, Treator, and Crugmeer, and is about 19.8 miles from the city of Truro. Padstow sits in a picturesque part of the country, but its coastal setting and proximity to the sea are notable features.
Padstow and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
As a coastal town, Padstow has the same vans as nearby areas — Treator, Crugmeer — all the way across PL postcodes and the wider area around them. Quote a postcode that starts PL28 8, and our van gets there fastest.
Your car stays put. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Wheal Jubilee Parc (Millennium Green), a side street near St John's, Padstow: our engineers drain the car where it stands. Assuming won't help at the back of The Capitol Cinema, on a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
The short version for Padstow motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere in Cornwall.