Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Redlands: Why It Occurs
Pause reading for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Redlands. Reading before the event? In that case what follows covers how it happens and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels around Coldharbour, like those in Redlands, run on two liquids; the engine takes just the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Other cars put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both together under one flap. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the slip happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Redlands?
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and running out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Dorchester Road, perhaps at the pub in the village on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: a new vehicle.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as readily, and once the pour begins, nothing halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Redlands or out in Nottington.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Radipole or a forecourt in Redlands.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Many cars fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a hire car or company car — from Upwey's car park, say — not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever around Dorset, use this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Broadlands Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- Both behind a single flap? Then confirm the cap on your diesel filler stays shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Redlands already?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't 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 dilute it.
The staff at BP, Sainsbury's or another forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing your car clear when asked. If you're on your own drive in Redlands, leave the vehicle where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. Come off the M5 — under 50 miles out of Redlands — at the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Wells, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Redlands.
Our arrival around Redlands, and what happens next
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, whether outside St Nicholas and St Laurence Church of England Primary School, near Redlands Community Sports Hub or on your own drive, our van travels to it. The answers determine the work and our price, so our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it's run. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, once your tank is drained. 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 with AdBlue than with petrol. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. Before we leave, our engineers start it and confirm that it's running correctly.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Redlands itself
Redlands is a coastal suburban area in Dorset, situated near the towns of Nottington, Broadwey, and Littlemoor. Redlands has a population of around 1904 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Redlands is located at a low elevation of 19 metres above sea level, and is approximately 118 miles from London. Redlands sits within the wider South West region, near the city of Wells, which is about 40 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Redlands included
Redlands is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Broadwey and Littlemoor among them, across the DT postcode area. Quickest of all: give a DT3 5 postcode to our van.
The car doesn't need to move. The drain takes place right there, whether a driveway, a street by Broadwey Methodist Church, or a layby on the way to Two Mile Coppice. Guessing won't help behind St Nicholas, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
In short, for Redlands drivers
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere across Dorset.