Swimbridge Newland: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, keep your ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the motor hasn't turned, it is emptied and fully purged where the car sits around Swimbridge Newland. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the why it occurs and the ways to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the motor — but many current diesels driven around Swimbridge Newland and Landkey Town carry a second fluid too. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There's a filler for each tank. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have the two together under one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around Swimbridge Newland?
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
On a driveway off Meadow Close before work, or in the car park outside The Castle heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — but a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar car.
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. Whether it occurs in Landkey or the middle of Swimbridge Newland, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Hannaford or a forecourt in Swimbridge Newland.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles show what belongs in each inlet right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Barnstaple.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere around Devon the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Russell Close, 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 daft and it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop when the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently through the own spout.
- Shut the cap, and look once more — making sure your diesel cap remained shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Swimbridge Newland?
Short list, then. First: the engine stays unstarted. Keep your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it alone runs your fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Tesco, Esso or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car clear if you ask. Your own driveway around Swimbridge Newland is where it stays.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next exit means the place to come off if you're on the M5, under 50 miles from Swimbridge Newland. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Exeter, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Swimbridge Newland.
When we turn up in Swimbridge Newland, what occurs?
The van reaches the car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near Landkey Village Hall, or outside Landkey Community Primary Academy. Both the work and the price rest on three replies — what liquid, which amount, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. That price comes on the call, before any van leaves.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out by itself. Hence it matters more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. After that our engineers start the engine and confirm it runs correctly before leaving.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Swimbridge Newland itself
Swimbridge Newland is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Devon, with a relatively low elevation of 38 metres. Swimbridge Newland lies near the villages of Landkey and Landkey Newland, and is located approximately 30 miles from Exeter. Swimbridge Newland has a population of around 747 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Swimbridge Newland is also within a short distance of Harford, and is about 170 miles west of London.
Swimbridge Newland and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout EX postcodes, our teams covering Swimbridge Newland — a residential suburb — work the nearby locations too, Harford and Landkey Newland included. A postcode starting EX32 0 gets our van to you fastest.
The car doesn't need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Millenium Green, a side street near War Memorial: our technicians drain the car where it stands. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Landkey Sculpture? By a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
The short version for Swimbridge Newland motorists
Tip nothing until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere around Devon.