Rumsam: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Keep the engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Usually, when the engine hasn't run, it is emptied and thoroughly flushed where the car sits around Rumsam. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels around Lake, like those in Rumsam, carry on two liquids; the engine takes just the diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has a filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump happens constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which cap to use. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Rumsam?
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things coming up at once.
On a driveway off Fortescue Road before work, or in the car park at The Underground on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, carries on. Whether it occurs in Newport or the middle of Rumsam, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Sticklepath or a forecourt around Rumsam.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- On plenty of vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles show what belongs in which inlet right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Barnstaple.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light appears — anywhere you are across Devon — a simple routine to use.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush by Bishop's Tawton Road on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Finish when that tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently through the own spout.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never came off.
Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Leave out step five altogether.
Rumsam: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Do not start your engine: that is where the short order of things starts. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that's where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the staff to help push the car away from the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Tesco, the Esso or anywhere else. If you are on your own drive in Rumsam, leave it where it sits.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Rumsam lies under 50 miles from the M5; there, take the next exit. A short hop across Rumsam is a smaller job than a run towards Exeter, under 50 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Rumsam: what happens when our technicians get there
By Newport Community School Primary Academy, near St John The Baptist or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Which liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask since the replies decide both work and price. That quote is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it counts more. Filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. We do not go until it has been started and is running properly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine has not run take roughly half an hour after our engineers are there. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Rumsam
Rumsam is a suburban area located on the riverside in Devon, with a relatively low elevation of 27 metres. Rumsam sits near several nearby places, including Newport, Chestwood, and Whiddon, and is approximately 32.8 miles from the city of Exeter. Rumsam has a population of around 4156 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Rumsam is also situated a considerable distance from London, at around 172.1 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Rumsam, and Devon beyond
As a residential suburb, Rumsam shares its vans surrounding places — Chestwood, Whiddon — all the way across EX postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quickest of all: quote a EX32 9 postcode to our van.
There's no need to shift the car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Grosvenor Church, a lay-by on the way to Rock Park Recreation Ground, a driveway. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Johns Community Centre, ring and ask rather than guessing.
For Rumsam people, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere around Devon.