AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Park: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around The Park. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels in Bournside, as well as The Park, run on two fluids; your engine takes just the diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There's a filler on each tank. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around The Park: how it occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Harefield Grove, or heading home in the car park at Somerset Arms.
Unfamiliar cars come second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after started, keeps on. It's seconds, whether out in Tivoli or right in the centre of The Park.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt in The Park or a drive over in Warden Hill. A few seconds, no more.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you collect a hire car or fleet car — at Cheltenham Spa's car park, perhaps — not when the light appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — anywhere you are across Gloucestershire — a routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of The Park, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around The Park already?
Brief order, then. First: the motor remains off. Leave your ignition off as well, because on many diesels it by itself runs your fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll your car away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Texaco, the Morrisons or anywhere else. On your own drive in The Park? Then your car remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. The Park lies under 3 miles from the M5; there, take the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Gloucester, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across The Park.
What happens when we get there around The Park
Outside St James' Church of England Primary School, close to Park Campus Library or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run, since those replies determine this work and our price. During the call itself, you hear the quote — before anything else.
Then the tank is cleared and your system flushed thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that washes away by itself. Hence it counts more. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Then we fire it up and check it runs smoothly before we leave.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our engineers get there, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. It's worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About The Park and where it is
The Park is a suburban area in Gloucestershire, situated on the riverside near Gloucester. The Park sits at an elevation of around 75 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. The Park is located near other suburban areas such as Tivoli, Montpellier, and Leckhampton, and is approximately 7 miles from Gloucester city centre.
AdBlue drains about The Park, and Gloucestershire beyond
Throughout GL postcodes, the teams that cover The Park — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Leckhampton and Montpellier among them. Quote a postcode beginning GL50 2, and our van gets there quickest.
The vehicle stays put. We drain it where it is — a side street near St Philip & St James, a lay-by on the way to Billings Way Open Space, a driveway. Guessing doesn't help behind Gas Lamp Base, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
In short, for The Park motorists
First, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around Gloucestershire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.