Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Portreath: Why It Occurs
Pause reading for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. In Portreath, catching it before your engine turns normally means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it happens and the how to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Plenty of newer diesels in Illogan, as well as Portreath, carry on two fluids; your motor takes only the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Portreath?
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Sunnyvale Road, or heading home in the car park at Portreath Arms.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Portreath or out in Nance.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt around Portreath or a drive over in Park Bottom. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel filler? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Redruth? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever in Cornwall the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Kingsley Terrace.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have found the filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and check again — confirm the diesel cap stayed closed throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Don't carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Portreath already?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. Leave your ignition off as well, because on many diesels it by itself 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 the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Morrisons, the Texaco or somewhere else. On your own drive around Portreath? Then the car remains put.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction is the place to come off if you're on the M5, over 50 miles from Portreath. A short hop across Portreath is a smaller job than a run towards Truro, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival around Portreath, and what occurs next
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Portreath Community Primary School, close to St Mary's Church or on your own drive. The replies settle the work and the quote, and so we ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. The price is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Emptying that tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Your engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before our technicians go.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour after our technicians are there. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Portreath and where it is
Portreath is a small coastal village in Cornwall, situated on the north coast near the towns of Truro and Redruth. Portreath sits at a low elevation of around 9 metres, with its housing stock predominantly comprising terraced properties. Portreath is close to several nearby places, including Nance, Paynters Lane End, and Tolvaddon Downs, and is approximately 10.5 miles from the city of Truro. Portreath has a population of around 1218 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains round Portreath, and Cornwall beyond
Paynters Lane End and Tolvaddon Downs are among the towns around Portreath, a coastal village, that the same vans cover, over TR postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting TR16 4.
No need to move the car. Anywhere it sits — near Portreath Millenium Hall, on a lay-by heading to Pumping Station Park, at home — that's where it is emptied. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Picnic Area? By a county line? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
In short, for Portreath drivers
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, throughout Cornwall.