Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in St Blazey Gate: Why It Happens
Stop here for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your engine has not run, it is drained and thoroughly purged where the car is around St Blazey Gate. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that's what plenty of newer diesels near St Blazey Gate and Par run, with diesel feeding the engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in St Blazey Gate?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Trenython Road before work, or in the car park outside The Four Lords on the way home.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after begun, carries on. Whether it takes place in Biscovey or the middle of St Blazey Gate, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a St Blazey Gate forecourt or a driveway out in Kilhallon, spend a few seconds over these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Par? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, wherever around Cornwall, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Par 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.
- Both under a single flap? So make sure the lid on the diesel filler is still closed before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around St Blazey Gate?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the BP, the Gulf or anywhere else. If you are on your own driveway in St Blazey Gate, leave the vehicle where it sits.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction is the place to leave when you are on the M5, over 50 miles from St Blazey Gate. Mileage matters — a short hop across St Blazey Gate is a smaller job than heading under 25 miles to Truro — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around St Blazey Gate, and what takes place next
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Biscovey Academy, close to Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses or on your own drive. What fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask since the answers set the work and price. That quote is given on the call, before any van leaves.
The system is then cleaned thoroughly, once that tank is drained. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out unaided. Hence it counts more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running properly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after we get there, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About St Blazey Gate itself
St Blazey Gate is a coastal locality in Cornwall, situated near the towns of St Blazey and Biscovey, and overlooking the surrounding countryside from a height of around 34 metres. St Blazey Gate is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the area's residential nature. St Blazey Gate is located near the Eden Project at Bodelva, and is within commuting distance of Truro, the nearest city. St Blazey Gate has a population of approximately 2524 people.
AdBlue drains about St Blazey Gate, and Cornwall beyond
Being a coastal area, St Blazey Gate shares its vans nearby areas — St Blazey, Bodelva — right through PL postcodes and the wider area beyond. Give a postcode that starts PL24 2, and the van arrives fastest.
Moving the car is not necessary. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a street by St Mary the Virgin, Par, or a layby towards St Mary's Recreation Ground. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Mid Cornwall Galleries.
The short version for St Blazey Gate drivers
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Cornwall, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.