Springbourne: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Pause here for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Springbourne. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many newer diesels on the roads about Springbourne and Littledown carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler on every tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in that gap that the mistake happens.
Springbourne: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the vehicle, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Victoria Road, or outside The Firkin Shed on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
Nothing halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Boscombe or the middle of Springbourne, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Springbourne forecourt or a drive out in Charminster, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you pick up a hire car or fleet car — at Bournemouth's car park, perhaps — not once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Dorset that is.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and not rushed by Cleveland Road on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Stop when the tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, tip slowly using the own spout.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Find at the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Springbourne?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the car clear of the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Shell, the Esso or somewhere else. Your own drive in Springbourne is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Come off the M27 — under 25 miles out of Springbourne — at the first junction. Distance counts — a short hop across Springbourne is a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Southampton — so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when we arrive around Springbourne
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside St Clement's and St John's Church of England Infant School, near Springbourne Library or on your own driveway. What liquid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask since the replies decide the work and quote. Nobody sets off until you've had the price over the phone.
Then your tank is drained and your system cleaned thoroughly. 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 with AdBlue than with petrol. Once the filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where required — clean diesel is added, and then your car gets tested. Then our engineers start it and check it runs smoothly before we go.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Springbourne, for a moment
Springbourne is a coastal suburban area in Dorset, situated near the popular seaside resorts of Boscombe and East Cliff. Springbourne sits at an elevation of around 35 metres, with many of its residents living in flats. Springbourne is close to several local amenities and is within commuting distance of nearby cities, including Southampton, which is approximately 23 miles away.
Springbourne and Dorset: AdBlue drains across the area
East Cliff and Dean Park are among the towns around Springbourne, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over BH postcodes. Give a postcode beginning BH1 4, and our van gets there quickest.
No need to shift the vehicle. The drain takes place right there, be it a driveway, a road by St Clements, or a layby towards The Secret Garden. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Springbourne Family Centre.
The short version for Springbourne people
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere across Dorset.