How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in St James
Pause here a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in St James. Reading in advance? Then the rest covers how it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels near St James and Ivy Cross run, with diesel feeding the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it.
There is a filler for each tank. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in St James: how it takes place
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Tanyard Lane, perhaps outside Ye Old Two Brewers Inn on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar vehicles are second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as readily, and after the pour starts, no part stops it. Whether it happens in Alcester or the middle of St James, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around St James or a driveway out in Long Cross. Seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- On plenty of vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Gillingham (Dorset), ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — anywhere you are in Dorset — a routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Laundry Lane, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Leave out step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in St James already?
The short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. Leave the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it by itself runs your pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the staff to help push your car away from the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Tesco, the Esso or somewhere else. If you are on your own driveway in St James, leave the vehicle where it is.
When the motor has run by now, stop somewhere safe then turn the car off. The next exit is where to come off if you are on the M27, under 50 miles from St James. A short hop across St James is a smaller job than a run towards Salisbury, under 25 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
St James: what occurs when our engineers turn up
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside The Abbey CofE VA Primary School, Shaftesbury, close to Oldest House in Shaftesbury or on your own driveway. Which fluid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: we ask since those answers decide the work and price. The quote is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Then that tank is drained and the system cleaned thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears out by itself. That is why it counts more. After the filter is flushed — or renewed, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then the vehicle gets tested. The engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before we go.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine has not run take roughly half an hour after we arrive. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About St James, briefly
St James is a suburban area in Dorset, situated inland at an elevation of 179 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. St James is located near several nearby places, including Alcester, Shaftesbury, and Enmore Green, and is approximately 18.2 miles from the city of Salisbury. St James has a population of around 1685 residents and is about 96.2 miles from London. St James sits in a rural setting, characteristic of the South West region of England.
AdBlue drains in St James and across Dorset
St James is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Shaftesbury and Enmore Green among them, across the SP postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a SP7 8 postcode to our van.
The car remains put. The drain happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a road near a street just off the centre, or a lay-by towards Rolt (Millennium Green). Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of War Memorial.
The short version for St James drivers
First, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave it off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around Dorset.