Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Stourscombe: Why It Occurs
Stop reading for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Stourscombe, catching it before the engine runs usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many newer diesels around Carzantic, as well as Stourscombe, carry on two fluids; your engine gets just your diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
Stourscombe: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Gregory's Meadow before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village on the way home.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
No part halts the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Stourscombe or out in Withnoe.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Launceston or a forecourt in Stourscombe, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — many vehicles show what belongs in which inlet just there.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel filler? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Gunnislake? Check with whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — wherever it is across Cornwall — a simple routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of A388.
- 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 your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently using the own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Discover at the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Stourscombe?
The short order of things, starting with no starting your motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Tesco, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Stourscombe.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M5 — under 50 miles out of Stourscombe — at the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Plymouth, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Stourscombe.
Our arrival in Stourscombe, and what happens next
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Launceston Primary School, close to St Michael or on your own driveway. What fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask since those answers set both work and price. That price comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Emptying that tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. After the fuel filter is flushed — or renewed, if required — clean diesel is added, and then your vehicle gets tested. Before we leave, our engineers start it and confirm that it is running properly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor hasn't run take roughly half an hour once we arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Stourscombe and where it is
Stourscombe is a small hamlet in inland Cornwall, situated at an elevation of 144 metres, and is located near the Kensey Valley Meadow. Stourscombe is characterized by its terraced housing and is close to the nearby places of Withnoe and Lawhitton. Stourscombe is approximately 19.8 miles from Plymouth and 192.6 miles from London, making it a rural community in the South West region. Stourscombe has a population of around 625 residents.
Stourscombe and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
Stourscombe is a rural hamlet, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, Kensey Valley Meadow and Lawhitton among them, across the PL postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting PL15 9.
Shifting your car is not necessary. Wherever it sits — near Launceston Rugby Club, in a layby heading to Hurdondown Wood, at home — that is where it gets cleared. Assuming won't help behind The Gateway Centre, on a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
Stourscombe people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere across Cornwall.