Southville: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Pause reading for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out just where your vehicle sits in Southville, is normally all it needs when caught before your engine runs. Reading in advance? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your motor — yet many newer diesels seen round Southville and Bristol hold a second fluid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Plenty of cars have a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think which cap to use. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur around Southville?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Beauley Road, or on the way home in the car park at The Masonic.
Unfamiliar vehicles come second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
No part stops the pour once 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 seconds, be it in Bedminster or right in the heart of Southville.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Whether a Southville forecourt or a driveway over in Clifton Wood, take a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook says where it lives if your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you collect a rental or company car — at Bedminster's car park, say — rather than when the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — anywhere you are across Bristol — a simple routine to use.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Milford Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it works.
- Leave the 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 again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Never go on to step five.
Southville: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Don't start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Harvest Energy or the Asda, ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the pump. Your own driveway around Southville is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. On the M32, under 3 miles from Southville, that means the next exit. Mileage matters — a short hop across Southville makes a smaller job than heading under a mile towards Bristol — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Southville: what occurs when our engineers arrive
Wherever your car came to rest, be it outside Southville Primary School, near Southville Centre or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Which liquid got in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because those replies set the work and quote. During the call itself, you hear the price — before dispatch.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. 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 the flush matters more here than with petrol. A test is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. The motor is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before we head off.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our engineers get there, as long as the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Southville itself
Southville is a suburban area in Bristol, situated on the riverside with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. Southville sits at an elevation of 26 metres, close to the city centre and nearby areas like Bedminster and Canons Marsh. Southville is part of the larger Bristol urban area, with easy access to the city's amenities and transport links. Southville has a population of around 15432 people, making it a sizable residential community.
AdBlue drains around Southville, and Bristol beyond
Over BS postcodes, our vans that cover Southville — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Ashton Gate and Canons Marsh among them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BS3 1.
No need to shift the vehicle. The drain happens right there, be it a drive, a street by Creative Space, or a lay-by towards Dame Emily Park. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Octopus & Man, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In short, for Southville drivers
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere across Bristol.