How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ramleaze
Leave the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Caught before the engine runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Ramleaze. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Not one liquid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels around Ramleaze and Hillmead carry, with diesel feeding the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. It's in that gap that the error happens.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Ramleaze: how it happens
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up at once.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Ramleaze Drive, or on the way home in the car park outside The Village Inn.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
No part halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, whether out in The Prinnels or bang in the centre of Ramleaze.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt in Ramleaze or a drive out in Rivermead. Seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Swindon, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the light appears — anywhere you are in Wiltshire — a simple routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Middleleaze Drive, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Ramleaze already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Keep your ignition off too, because on many diesels it alone runs your fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the Asda, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. At home in Ramleaze? So the vehicle stays where it is.
Where your engine has been run by now, pull over safely and switch the car off. Come off the M4 — under 3 miles out of Ramleaze — at the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Bath, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Ramleaze.
Ramleaze: what occurs when we turn up
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Brook Field Primary School, near Holy Trinity or on your own driveway. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — what fluid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, after that tank is drained. 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 the flush counts more here than with petrol. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running properly.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Ramleaze itself
Ramleaze is a suburban area in Wiltshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 96 metres, with a mix of housing types but predominantly detached homes. Ramleaze is located near other residential areas such as The Prinnels, Middleleaze, and Eastleaze, and is within commuting distance of the city of Bath. Ramleaze has a population of approximately 5635 people and is part of the wider South West region. Ramleaze is also within a reasonable distance from London, being around 73.7 miles away.
AdBlue drains round Ramleaze, and Wiltshire beyond
Being a residential suburb, Ramleaze has the same vans as surrounding areas — Middleleaze, Eastleaze — all the way through SN postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SN5 5.
There's no need to move your car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near How the Mighty Fall, a lay-by on the way to Nine Elms Green, a drive. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St. Peter's Catholic Church, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In short, for Ramleaze people
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, anywhere around Wiltshire: keep the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.