The Rectangle: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, keep your ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. In The Rectangle, finding it before the motor runs usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single fluid but two: that's how many modern diesels near The Rectangle and Haydon Wick run, with diesel for your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around The Rectangle
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Burne Jones Avenue before work, or in the car park outside The Strawberry Thief heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it is gone, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar cars are next, as well. Hire cars, new cars and company cars put their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as easily, and once the pour begins, no part halts it. Whether it happens in Blunsdon St Andrew or the middle of The Rectangle, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt around The Rectangle or a driveway over in Abbey Meads. A few seconds, no more.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to your diesel inlet? Then check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Swindon? Ask whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Wiltshire that is.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Brantwood Close.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It works.
- The two behind a single flap? Then make sure the cap on the diesel filler is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at the second or third step that AdBlue went in the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Skip step five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in The Rectangle?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Asda, BP or another — the attendants will usually help roll the car clear, if you ask. Your own drive in The Rectangle is where it should stay.
Already run? Stop when it is sensible, then turn off. The next exit means where to leave if you are on the M4, under 5 miles from The Rectangle. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Gloucester, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across The Rectangle.
When our engineers turn up around The Rectangle, what takes place?
Our van comes to the vehicle wherever it stopped — your own drive, beside Redhouse Community Centre, or by Red Oaks Primary School. Our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run, because the replies decide this work and the quote. The quote comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it counts more. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. The engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our engineers go.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine has not run need roughly half an hour after we arrive. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About The Rectangle itself
The Rectangle is a locality in Wiltshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 92 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. The Rectangle lies near several nearby places, including Blunsdon St Andrew, Ash Brake, and St Andrews Ridge, and is approximately 25 miles from Gloucester. The Rectangle is also within commuting distance of London, being around 73 miles away. The Rectangle has a population of around 2685 people, making it a small but established community.
AdBlue drains across Wiltshire, The Rectangle included
As a small village, The Rectangle has the same vans as nearby places — Ash Brake, St Andrews Ridge — all the way through SN postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Fastest of all: quote a SN25 2 postcode for the van.
The car stays put. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to St Andrews Church, a lay-by on the way to Eastern Common, a drive. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Blunsdon Abbey.
The short version for The Rectangle drivers
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Wiltshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.