Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Park Gate: Why It Happens
Leave your motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. In Park Gate, finding it before the engine turns normally leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Here in advance? In that case what follows covers why it happens and what to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's what plenty of newer diesels near Park Gate and Sarisbury run, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue goes to your 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. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Park Gate
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Station Road, or on the way home in the car park outside Locks Heath Working Man's Social Club.
Unfamiliar cars are second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as readily, and once the pour starts, no part stops it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Park Gate or out in Whiteley.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Park Gate forecourt or a drive out in Burridge, take a few seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it beside the diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Swanwick.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
For the day the light comes on — anywhere it is around Hampshire — a routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Middleton Mews.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Discover during the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Park Gate?
Brief order, then. Top of that: your motor stays off. Leave the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself runs your fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the BP, ask the staff to help push the vehicle clear of the pump. If you are on your own driveway in Park Gate, leave the car where it stands.
When your engine has run already, pull over somewhere safe and turn it off. The next junction means where to leave if you are on the M27, under a mile from Park Gate. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Southampton, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Park Gate.
Our arrival around Park Gate, and what occurs next
The van comes to the vehicle wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, near Saint Margaret Mary, or outside Park Gate Primary School. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — which liquid, which quantity, and if it has run — so our technicians ask. On the call itself, you are told our price — ahead of dispatch.
Then your tank is cleared and the fuel system purged thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. After that we fire it up and check it runs properly before we leave.
Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Park Gate and where it is
Park Gate is a village in southern Hampshire, situated near the coast and approximately 6 miles east of Southampton. Park Gate sits at an elevation of around 49 metres, with its detached housing stock reflecting the area's relatively affluent character. Park Gate is close to several nearby settlements, including Whiteley, Locks Heath, and Segensworth, and is within commuting distance of major employment centres like Southampton and London.
AdBlue drains around Park Gate and across Hampshire
Throughout SO postcodes, the vans covering Park Gate — a coastal village — work the nearby spots too, Segensworth and Locks Heath among them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SO31 1.
No need to move the car. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Duncan Road Church, a lay-by on the way to Yew Tree Woodland Park, a driveway. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Whiteley Community Centre, ring and ask instead of guessing.
In short, for Park Gate people
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Hampshire.