AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Springvale: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where the vehicle sits in Springvale, is usually all it takes when found before your motor runs. Here before the event? Then the rest covers why it happens and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the engine — but many newer diesels driven around Springvale and South Wonston hold a second fluid as well. Your exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The mistake lives in that gap.
Springvale: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Springvale Road, or on the way home in the car park at King Charles.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after begun, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Springvale or out in Abbots Worthy.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Worthy Down or a forecourt around Springvale.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check when you pick up a hire car or company car — from Winchester's car park, perhaps — not once the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever around Hampshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Hookpit Farm Lane.
- 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 remains on. Where both share a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check once more — making sure the diesel cap stayed shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Never carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Springvale already?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Esso, Shell or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push your car away if asked. On your own drive in Springvale? Then your car remains put.
Already run? Pull over once it is sensible, then turn off. Springvale sits under 3 miles from the M3; there, take the first exit. Mileage counts — a short hop across Springvale makes a smaller job than heading under 3 miles to Winchester — so say about how far it went.
When we arrive around Springvale, what takes place?
Wherever the car came to rest, be it outside Kings Worthy Primary School, beside St Mary's Church Hall or at home, our van travels to it. Those replies settle this work and our quote, so our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run. During the call itself, you are told our price — ahead of anything else.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes out unaided, however long it sits. Filter flushed or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. Then our technicians start it and check it runs properly before leaving.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor has not run take about half an hour after our engineers are there. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Springvale itself
Springvale is a village in Hampshire, situated inland near the city of Winchester, at an elevation of around 51 metres. Springvale lies close to several nearby settlements, including Abbots Worthy, Kings Worthy, and Headbourne Worthy, and is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Springvale is located approximately 58 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Springvale has a population of around 2327 residents, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains around Springvale, and Hampshire beyond
Kings Worthy and Headbourne Worthy are among the places around Springvale, a rural village, that the same teams cover, throughout SO postcodes. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SO23 7.
There's no need to move your car. Anywhere it sits — beside Tubbs Hall & Kings Worthy Community Centre, in a layby heading to Broadview, at home — that's where it is cleared. Assuming won't help behind Royal Logistic Corps Museum, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
In short, for Springvale motorists
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, wherever around Hampshire: switch the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.