AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Popley: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
Stop here for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Popley. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Plenty of modern diesels around Houndmills, as well as Popley, run on two liquids; the motor gets only the diesel. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Popley?
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running out means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Tewkesbury Close, or at The Popinjay on the way home that evening.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and once the tip begins, no part halts it. It takes a few seconds, be it out in Oakridge or bang in the centre of Popley.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt in Popley or a drive over in Sherborne St John. A few seconds, that's all.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check when you pick up a hire car or company car — at Basingstoke's car park, perhaps — not once the warning appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Hampshire that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Popley Way.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located your filler and read the cap.
- The two under a single flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel side is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check once more — making sure the diesel cap remained closed the whole time. After that, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Popley: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Texaco or the Tesco, ask the attendants to help roll the car away from the petrol pump. At home around Popley? Then your car stays where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Come off the M3 — under 3 miles out of Popley — at the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Popley is less work than a trip of under 25 miles to Winchester, and so tell us.
Our arrival around Popley, and what happens next
Wherever your car has stopped, whether outside St Bede's Catholic Primary School, beside Bemuda Hall or at home, our van travels to it. Our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run, because those answers decide this work and our quote. The price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then the tank is cleared and the system flushed 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. A test comes last: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or replaced as needed. Then our technicians fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before we go.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Popley
Popley is a suburban area in Hampshire, situated inland at an elevation of 84 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Popley lies approximately 18 miles from Winchester and 44 miles from London, placing it within the wider commuter belt of the South East region. Popley is surrounded by other residential areas, including Oakridge, Daneshill, and South View. Popley has a population of around 8645 residents, making it a moderately sized suburban community.
AdBlue drains in Popley and across Hampshire
Popley is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Daneshill and South View among them, across the RG postcode area. Fastest of all: give a RG24 9 postcode to our van.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. Wherever it stands — near Popley Fields Community Centre, on a layby en route to Tewkesbury Close Open Space, on a drive — that's where it is emptied. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Oakridge West Community Centre.
Popley people: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave it switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Hampshire.