Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Paxcroft: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor hasn't turned, it is drained and fully flushed where your vehicle is around Paxcroft. Reading in advance? In that case what follows explains how it happens and what to stop it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel goes to your engine — but plenty of modern diesels seen around Paxcroft and Little Marsh carry a second fluid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in on each filling station visit, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in the gap that the error lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens in Paxcroft
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off A361 before work, or in the car park at Lion and Fiddle on the way home.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, keeps on. Whether it occurs in Hilperton or the middle of Paxcroft, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Paxcroft forecourt or a driveway over in Cold Harbour, spend a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives if the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Trowbridge.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Wherever across Wiltshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, engine off, and not in a rush by Hilperton Drive on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, make sure it is shut 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 and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Stage five stays out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Paxcroft already?
Do not start your motor: that's where the short order of things begins. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Texaco or the BP, ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the pump. Your own drive in Paxcroft is the place it should stay.
When your motor has been run by now, pull over safely and switch the car off. The next junction is the place to come off if you're on the M4, under 15 miles from Paxcroft. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Paxcroft is smaller a job than a run of under 10 miles to Bath, and so tell us.
Paxcroft: what takes place when our technicians arrive
The van reaches the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Hilperton Village Hall, or outside The Mead Community Primary School. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — what fluid, which amount, and if it's run — so we ask. You get that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, once your tank is cleared. 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 the flush counts more here than with petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Your engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our technicians head off.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run need roughly half an hour once we arrive. No money in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Paxcroft
Paxcroft is a small hamlet situated on the riverside in Wiltshire, with an elevation of 59 metres above sea level. Paxcroft lies near the city of Bath, approximately 8.9 miles away, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Hilperton and Paxcroft Mead. Paxcroft has a population of around 541 people and predominantly features detached housing. Paxcroft is located in the South West region of England, about 88.8 miles from London.
AdBlue drains around Paxcroft and across Wiltshire
Over BA postcodes, the teams that cover Paxcroft — a rural hamlet — work the nearby spots too, Bleet and Paxcroft Mead among them. Quote a postcode that starts BA14 6, and our van gets there quickest.
Moving the car is not necessary. Draining takes place right there, be it a drive, a road by St. Michael and All Angels, or a lay-by on the way to Trowbridge Rugby Club. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Crematorium Chapel.
In short, for Paxcroft motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it stands, anywhere in Wiltshire: keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.