Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Standlake: Why It Occurs
Pause here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Standlake. Here in advance? Then the rest covers why it happens and what to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Plenty of newer diesels around Moreton, as well as Standlake, carry on two fluids; the motor gets only the diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Other motors keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. It's in that gap that the error lives.
Standlake: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Manor Crescent, or on the way home in the car park at The Black Horse.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, keeps on. It takes a few seconds, whether in Rack End or right in the heart of Standlake.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Northmoor or a forecourt around Standlake, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show what belongs in each inlet right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Oxford? Check with whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever across Oxfordshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Woodlands, not on a slope, not with the 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.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Finish when that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly through its own spout.
- Close the cap, then look again — confirm the diesel cap stayed shut the whole time. After that, start the car.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Standlake?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. Keep your ignition off as well, because on many diesels it by itself starts your pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Pace, another forecourt nearby or any forecourt will usually help to push the vehicle clear if asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Standlake.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Come off the Wheatley Spur — under 15 miles out of Standlake — at the next junction. A short hop across Standlake is a smaller job than a run towards Oxford, under 10 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Standlake, and what occurs next
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Standlake Church of England Primary School, near St Giles' Church or on your own drive. The replies decide the work and our quote, so we ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. That price comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of it washes away on its own, however long it is left. Once your filter has been flushed — or renewed, if required — fresh diesel goes in, and then your vehicle is tested. We don't go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine has not run take about half an hour after our engineers are there. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Standlake itself
Standlake is a village in Oxfordshire, situated on the banks of a lake at an elevation of around 68 metres. Standlake sits near the River Thames, close to the city of Oxford and within commuting distance of London. Standlake has a mix of old and new housing, with detached homes being the predominant type, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Rack End and Brighthampton. Standlake is a small community with a population of approximately 688 residents.
AdBlue drains about Standlake, and Oxfordshire beyond
Standlake is a village, and the vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Brighthampton and Newbridge among them, across the OX postcode area. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting OX29 7.
Shifting the vehicle isn't needed. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Oxford Downs Cricket Club, a side street near Standlake Village Hall: we drain the car where it is. Awkward to pin down, like the back of The Three TTTs Watersports Club? By a border? Checking beats assuming, and so phone.
For Standlake drivers, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere across Oxfordshire.