Stibb: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Stibb, catching it before the motor turns normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that's what plenty of newer diesels near Stibb and Kilkhampton carry, with diesel for the motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think what cap it needs. That gap is where the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Stibb?
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Stibb Levels before work, or in the car park outside the pub in the village on the way home.
New-to-you cars are next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour once it has started. It's seconds, whether out in Collery or bang in the heart of Stibb.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Stibb or a driveway over in Bush. A few seconds, no more.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel inlet? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever around Cornwall, use this routine.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and never in a rush by Atlantic Highway on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — after you've found the filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish once your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently through the built-in spout.
- Before starting the car, shut the cap and check again that the diesel cap never came off.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Skip step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Stibb?
Don't start your motor: that's how the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at the nearest petrol station, Morrisons or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car away if you ask. On your own drive in Stibb? Then the vehicle stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. The next junction is the place to come off if you're on the M5, under 50 miles from Stibb. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Plymouth, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Stibb.
Stibb: what occurs when we get there
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Kilkhampton Junior and Infant School, near Penstowe Castle or on your own driveway. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it has run, because those answers decide this work and our price. On the phone call itself, you hear the quote — before dispatch.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing clears away on its own, however long it is left. The filter cleaned or, where needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a test of your car. The motor is started next and checked to make sure it runs properly, all before we leave.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once we get there, as long as the motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Stibb
Stibb is a small coastal hamlet in Cornwall, situated near the villages of Collery, Forda, and Coombe. Stibb sits at an elevation of 155 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Stibb is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Stibb is located approximately 38 miles from Plymouth, the nearest city.
Stibb and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Forda and Coombe are among the towns near Stibb, a rural hamlet, that the same teams cover, over EX postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting EX23 9.
The vehicle does not need to move. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near War Memorial, a lay-by on the way to Headweir Wood, a driveway. Tricky to explain, like the back of St James The Great? By a county line? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
In short, for Stibb people
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it stands, wherever across Cornwall: switch it off then call 0333 366 0103.