Stone Hill: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop reading for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Stone Hill, catching it before your engine runs normally means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many modern diesels on the roads round Stone Hill and Street carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Stone Hill: how it takes place
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 altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Stonehill before work, or in the car park outside The Lantokay on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: a strange car.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, carries on. Whether it takes place in Middle Leigh or the middle of Stone Hill, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Stone Hill forecourt or a drive out in Portland, take a couple of seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many cars mark what belongs in each inlet just there.
- The handbook shows which it lives if your filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Castle Cary.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
For the day the warning appears — anywhere you are across Somerset — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Blenheim Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — once you have located the filler and read it.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't carry on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Stone Hill?
Short order, then. First: your motor remains off. Leave your ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts the pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Sainsbury's, Shell or another forecourt will usually help pushing your car clear when asked. If you are on your own driveway in Stone Hill, leave the car where it sits.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Stone Hill lies under 10 miles from the M5; on it, take the first junction. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Stone Hill makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to Wells — so say about how far it went.
What occurs when our engineers arrive around Stone Hill
Outside Brookside Community Primary School, near The Salvation Army - Street or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; then a test of your vehicle. Before we leave, our engineers start the car and confirm that it is running properly.
If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Stone Hill
Stone Hill is a suburban area in inland Somerset, situated near the city of Wells and close to nearby places such as Middle Leigh, Lower Leigh, and Overleigh. Stone Hill sits at an elevation of 32 metres, and its semi-detached housing stock reflects the typical residential character of the area. Stone Hill is located approximately 7.5 miles from Wells and 116.3 miles from London, making it a commuter base for those working in the surrounding cities.
AdBlue drains around Stone Hill and across Somerset
As a residential suburb, Stone Hill has the same vans as nearby areas — Lower Leigh, Overleigh — right through BA postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting BA16 0 gets our van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift the car. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Merriman Park, a side street near The Bayliss Centre: we drain the vehicle where it sits. Tricky to explain, like the back of Mission Church? By a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
For Stone Hill people, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Somerset, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.