AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pittville: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
Leave your motor and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out right where your car sits in Pittville, is usually all it needs if caught before the engine runs. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the reasons it happens and the ways to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many modern diesels in Fairview, as well as Pittville, run on two fluids; the motor gets just the diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
There's a filler for each tank. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, while some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on every filling station call-out, again and again. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Pittville: how it happens
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste follows from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Pittville Lawn, or on the way home in the car park outside The Airs & Graces.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Hire cars, new cars and company cars place their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it takes place in Cleevemount or the middle of Pittville, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Pittville forecourt or a driveway over in Lynworth, spend a few seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- 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.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a rental or company car — from Cheltenham Spa's car park, perhaps — rather than once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light appears — wherever it is across Gloucestershire — a simple routine to follow.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Little Cleevemount.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Finish once your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly through the built-in spout.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Don't carry on to step five.
Pittville: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Short order, then. First: your engine remains off. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at BP, Bouncers Lane Service Station or another forecourt will usually help pushing the car away when you ask. If you are on your own drive around Pittville, leave the car where it sits.
When the engine has been run by now, pull over safely then turn the vehicle off. Leave the M5 — under 5 miles out of Pittville — at the first junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Gloucester, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Pittville.
When our technicians get there in Pittville, what occurs?
By Dunalley Primary School, close to Nest for Pittville or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our engineers come to it. The answers settle this work and our quote, so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. The price is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. More than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of that washes out unaided, however long it is left. Testing comes last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or changed if necessary. Next our technicians start it and confirm it runs smoothly before we go.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Pittville itself
Pittville is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Gloucester in Gloucestershire, situated near the river at an elevation of 62 metres. Pittville sits in close proximity to nearby places such as Cleevemount, Marle Hill, and Whaddon, and is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Pittville is home to a population of approximately 5043 residents and is about 8.4 miles from Gloucester, making it a commuter-friendly location. Pittville benefits from its scenic riverside setting, which offers pleasant views and walks.
AdBlue drains in Pittville and across Gloucestershire
Pittville is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Marle Hill and Whaddon among them, across the GL postcode area. Quote a postcode that starts GL52 3, and our van arrives quickest.
The car remains where it is. The drain takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a street by Cheltenham Evangelical Free Church, or a lay-by towards Pittville Crescent. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Completely-Suzuki Stadium.
In short, for Pittville people
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Gloucestershire.