Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Shamblehurst: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, keep the ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Shamblehurst. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to the engine — yet many newer diesels driven around Shamblehurst and Hatch Bottom carry a second liquid too. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it.
There is a filler for each tank. Other vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both together behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Shamblehurst
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
On a drive off Chichester Close before work, or in the car park outside Shamblehurst Barn heading home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as easily, and once the pour starts, no part stops it. Whether it happens in Dowds Farm or the middle of Shamblehurst, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Boorley Green or a forecourt around Shamblehurst.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many motors show what goes in which filler just there.
- Can't see it beside your diesel filler? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Hedge End? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than once the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Anywhere in Hampshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Saint Luke's Close, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- The two behind one flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel side is still closed before raising the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, and look again — confirm your diesel filler remained closed the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Step five stays out.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Shamblehurst?
The short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Sainsbury's, Texaco or another forecourt will normally help to push the car away when asked. Your own drive around Shamblehurst is where it should stay.
When the engine has run by now, stop somewhere safe and turn it off. On the M27, under a mile from Shamblehurst, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Shamblehurst is smaller work than a run of under 5 miles towards Southampton, and so tell us.
Our arrival in Shamblehurst, and what happens next
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Berrywood Primary School, close to St Luke's Church or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether it has run, since the answers determine this work and the price. You hear that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after the tank is cleared. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. A test comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Before we go, our engineers start the engine and make sure that it's running properly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Shamblehurst, briefly
Shamblehurst is a suburban area in Hampshire, situated inland at an elevation of 29 metres, approximately 4.7 miles from Southampton. Shamblehurst is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, with nearby places including Dowds Farm, Wildern, and Hedge End. Shamblehurst has a population of around 6113 residents, and its location allows for relatively easy access to major cities like Southampton and London, which is about 64.8 miles away.
Shamblehurst and Hampshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Shamblehurst is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Wildern and Hedge End among them, across the SO postcode area. Give a postcode beginning SO30 2, and our van arrives quickest.
The vehicle stays where it is. The drain happens right there, whether a driveway, a street by Drummond Community Centre, or a layby on the way to Dowd's Farm Park. Tricky to pin down, like the back of TK Maxx? Close to a border? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
Shamblehurst drivers: the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere in Hampshire.