Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Thame: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Thame. Here before the event? In that case the rest explains why it happens and what to prevent it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
No single liquid but two: that is how plenty of modern diesels around Thame and Diggs carry, with diesel feeding the motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. It is in the gap that the slip happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Thame: how it occurs
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Dorchester Place, or heading home in the car park outside The Rising Sun.
New-to-you vehicles come next, too. Rentals, new cars and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap 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, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Moreton or the middle of Thame: it is the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these first, on a forecourt around Thame or a drive over in Kingsey. A few seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Haddenham & Thame Parkway, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, anywhere around Oxfordshire, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Bell Lane.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Leave out stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Thame already?
Brief list, then. Top of it: your engine remains off. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Esso, ask the staff to help push the car away from the pump. Your own driveway around Thame is the place it should stay.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M40, under 3 miles from Thame, that means the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Oxford, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Thame.
Thame: what occurs when our engineers get there
Anywhere the car has stopped, whether by St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Thame, beside Thame Town Hall or at home, our van comes to it. Those answers decide this work and our price, so we ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Then the tank is emptied and your system cleaned thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The motor is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before we leave.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It's worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Thame itself
Thame is a town in Oxfordshire, situated on the River Thame in the south of the county. Thame sits at an elevation of 73 metres, near the Chiltern Hills and the Oxfordshire countryside. Thame is characterized by its semi-detached housing and is located near several smaller villages, including Moreton, Long Crendon, and Towersey. Thame is also within commuting distance of London, approximately 40 miles away, and the city of Oxford, which is about 12 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Oxfordshire, Thame included
Throughout OX postcodes, the teams covering Thame — a riverside town — work the surrounding spots too, Towersey and Long Crendon included. A postcode starting OX9 3 gets our van to you fastest.
The car remains where it is. Anywhere it stands — near Thame Museum, in a layby en route to Thame Town Cricket Club, at home — that is where it gets cleared. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Thame Library? Close to a border? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
Thame drivers: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Oxfordshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.