Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tewkesbury: Why It Occurs
Pause here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Around Tewkesbury, finding it before the motor runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel feeds your engine — but plenty of current diesels seen around Tewkesbury and The Mythe hold a second liquid too. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. 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. Diesel gets filled at each filling station call-out, again and again. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what cap to use. It is in the gap that the slip happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Tewkesbury
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off The Cross, or heading home in the car park outside Cross House Tavern.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: a strange 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 tip once it has started. It's a few seconds, whether out in Priors Park or right in the centre of Tewkesbury.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Walton Cardiff or a forecourt around Tewkesbury.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask when you pick up a rental or company car — at Ashchurch for Tewkesbury's car park, say — not when the warning appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever in Gloucestershire, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Barton Street, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but 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 once your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly through the own spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Tewkesbury?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. Leave your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels it alone runs the pump. Filling up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, just where fuel is taken from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Morrisons or the Shell, ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Tewkesbury.
Already started? Stop once it is sensible, then turn off. Come off the M5 — under 3 miles out of Tewkesbury — at the first exit. A short hop across Tewkesbury is a smaller job than a run towards Gloucester, under 10 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What takes place when our technicians arrive in Tewkesbury
Wherever the car came to rest, whether outside Tewkesbury Church of England Primary School, beside War Memorial or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Which fluid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since those answers decide the work and quote. You get that price by phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we go, we start the car and make sure that it is running correctly.
If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Tewkesbury and where it is
Tewkesbury is a historic town situated in northern Gloucestershire, England, where the rivers Severn and Avon meet. This riverside location has made it an important centre for trade and commerce over the centuries. Tewkesbury is known for its medieval abbey, which was built in the 12th century and has had a lasting impact on the town's development. The town's strategic position near the Worcestershire border has also contributed to its significance.
AdBlue drains across Gloucestershire, Tewkesbury included
As a riverside town, Tewkesbury has the same vans as surrounding areas — Upper Lode, Mitton — right across GL postcodes and the wider area beyond. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting GL20 5.
The car stays where it is. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Out of the Hat, a lay-by on the way to Abbey Grounds, a drive. Tricky to explain, like the back of Tewkesbury Methodist Church? By a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
Tewkesbury people: the short version
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in Gloucestershire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave it off then call 0333 366 0103.