Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Polgooth
Keep the motor and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where your car sits around Polgooth, is usually what it takes if found before the engine runs. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many newer diesels on the roads round Polgooth and St Mewan carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of motors 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, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think which filler it needs. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Polgooth: how it happens
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and running out leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Fore Street, or outside Polgooth Inn on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
Third, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as easily, and once the pour starts, nothing halts it. Whether it takes place in Little Polgooth or the middle of Polgooth, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Levalsa Meor or a forecourt in Polgooth.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you pick up a hire car or fleet car — at St Austell's car park, perhaps — rather than when the warning appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Cornwall that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Sycamore Close, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Polgooth already?
Do not start the engine: that is how the short order of things begins. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch it on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — EG On the Go, Texaco or any other — the attendants will normally help roll your car clear, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Polgooth.
Already run? Stop once it is safe, then turn off. On the M5, over 50 miles from Polgooth, that means the next exit. A short hop across Polgooth is a smaller job than a run towards Truro, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Polgooth: what happens when our engineers get there
Outside St Mewan Community Primary School, close to Polgooth Village Hall or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. The replies decide this work and our quote, so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it has run. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then the tank is drained and your system cleaned thoroughly. 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 with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. Next our technicians fire it up and confirm it runs correctly before we leave.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our engineers get there, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Polgooth, briefly
Polgooth is a small village in Cornwall, situated near the coast and approximately 11 miles from Truro. Polgooth sits at an elevation of 44 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Polgooth is close to other nearby places, including Little Polgooth, Trelowth, and London Apprentice, and is home to around 548 residents.
Polgooth and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Trelowth and London Apprentice are among the places near Polgooth, a coastal village, that the same teams cover, over PL postcodes. A postcode starting PL26 7 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle stays put. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Polgooth Methodist Church, a lay-by on the way to The Goffin, a driveway. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Saint Mewan Church.
The short version for Polgooth people
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave it off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout Cornwall.