AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Saltford: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your motor has not run, it is drained and fully flushed where your car sits in Saltford. Here in advance? Then what follows explains how it happens and what to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds the engine — yet many modern diesels seen about Saltford and Corston carry another fluid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Saltford: how it happens
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things lining up together.
On a drive off Beech Road before work, or in the car park outside The Crown on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar vehicles come second, as well. Rentals, new cars and company motors place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. Kelston or the middle of Saltford: it is the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these first, at a forecourt around Saltford or a drive over in North Stoke. Seconds, no more.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Keynsham? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Somerset that is.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Norman Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, yet it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap was never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Saltford already?
Don't start the engine: that's where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — so leave it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — Esso, BP or another — the attendants will normally help roll the car clear, when you ask. At home around Saltford? So the car remains put.
Already run? Stop when it's sensible, then turn off. The next exit is the place to leave when you're on the M4, under 10 miles from Saltford. Mileage counts — a short hop across Saltford is a smaller job than heading under 5 miles towards Bath — so say about how far it went.
What occurs when our engineers get there in Saltford
Our van comes to your car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, beside Saltford Community Church, or by Saltford CofE Primary School. The answers settle the work and the quote, and so our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it has run. Nobody heads out before you've had our price over the phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears away unaided. That is why it counts more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Your engine is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before we head off.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor has not run take about half an hour once our engineers are there. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Saltford, for a moment
Saltford is a village situated on the River Avon in Somerset, with a mix of old and new housing including many detached homes. Saltford lies near the city of Bath, approximately 4.5 miles to the east, and is close to other nearby villages such as Kelston and Swineford. Saltford has a population of around 1764 people and is located at an elevation of 37 metres above sea level. Saltford is also within commuting distance of major cities, with London being around 100.5 miles to the east.
AdBlue drains across Somerset, Saltford included
Swineford and Bitton are among the towns around Saltford, a village, that the same vans cover, throughout BS postcodes. A postcode starting BS31 3 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to shift the vehicle. The drain takes place on the spot, be it a drive, a street by St Mary's Church Hall, or a layby towards Tennant's Wood. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Saltford Manor House.
In short, for Saltford people
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Somerset, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103.