Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pilton: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your engine hasn't turned, it's drained and thoroughly flushed where the vehicle sits in Pilton. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many modern diesels in Steanbow, as well as Pilton, carry on two fluids; the engine takes just your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
There's a filler for every tank. 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. Topping up the diesel side at the pump happens constantly. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what cap it needs. It is in the gap that the error happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Pilton: how it occurs
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Ford Lane, perhaps outside The Crown on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar motors are second, too. Rentals, new motors and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Pilton or out in East Town.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Lower Westholme or a forecourt around Pilton.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook will say which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Castle Cary, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, anywhere in Somerset, follow this routine.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, engine off, and never in a rush beside Barrow Lane on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The two behind a single flap? So make sure the lid on the diesel filler is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and check again that your diesel cap never came off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Pilton?
Brief order, then. First: the engine remains off. Keep your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts your fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Murco or the Tesco, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Pilton.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit means where to come off when you are on the M5, under 25 miles from Pilton. About how far did it go? Hopping across Pilton is less work than a trip of under 5 miles to Wells, and so tell us.
Pilton: what happens when our engineers arrive
Our van comes to the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Pilton Methodist Church, or outside Croscombe Church of England Primary School. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — what liquid, what quantity, and whether it has run — so we ask. That price comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then the tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. Filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of the car. Before we leave, we start the engine and check that it is running smoothly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run take about half an hour after our technicians are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Pilton, briefly
Pilton is a small village in inland Somerset, situated near the city of Wells and surrounded by other nearby places such as East Town and West Compton. Pilton sits at an elevation of 54 metres, with a mix of landscapes typical of the South West region. Pilton has a population of around 707 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Pilton is located approximately 108.7 miles west of London, making it a relatively rural community.
AdBlue drains across Somerset, Pilton included
Being a rural village, Pilton shares its vans surrounding areas — Upper Westholme, West Compton — all the way across BA postcodes and the surrounding area around them. A postcode starting BA4 4 gets our van to you fastest.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Perridge Copse, a side street near Pilton Tithe Barn: our engineers drain the car where it stands. Assuming doesn't help behind Saint John the Baptist, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and ask.
For Pilton people, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it stands, anywhere in Somerset: switch it off then call 0333 366 0103.