Thorverton: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, keep the ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the car stands around Thorverton, is normally what it takes if caught before the engine runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to the engine — but many current diesels seen about Thorverton and Netherexe carry a second fluid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. 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. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Thorverton
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a drive off Dark Lane before work, or in the car park outside The Exeter heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as easily, and once the pour starts, nothing stops it. Berrysbridge or the middle of Thorverton: it is the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Thorverton forecourt or a driveway out in Chitterley, take a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- Can't see it next to your diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook will say which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Newton St Cyres, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever in Devon, follow this routine.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Cleaves Close.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It works.
- Both behind one flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel filler is still shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm your diesel filler remained closed the whole time. Only then, start your car.
Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went in the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Stage five stays out.
Thorverton: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. Leave your ignition off as well, because on many diesels it by itself starts your pump. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Esso, the Green Earth Biodiesel or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Thorverton.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. Thorverton lies under 5 miles from the M5; there, use the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Thorverton is smaller work than a run of under 10 miles to Exeter, and so tell us.
Thorverton: what occurs when our technicians arrive
By Thorverton Church of England Primary School, near Baptist Church or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — what liquid, what quantity, and whether it has run — so we ask. You get that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
Then the tank is drained and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing clears out unaided, however long it sits. Testing comes last: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or changed if necessary. We don't go until it has been started and is running properly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive, as long as the motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Thorverton
Thorverton is a village in Devon, situated on the River Exe, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Thorverton sits at an elevation of 56 metres, close to the city of Exeter, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Berrysbridge and Raddon. Thorverton has a population of approximately 693 residents, and its riverside setting provides a distinctive character to the village. Thorverton is located near the Up Exe area, and its proximity to Exeter makes it a commuter-friendly location.
AdBlue drains around Thorverton and across Devon
Raddon and Up Exe are among the places around Thorverton, a village, that the same teams cover, over EX postcodes. A postcode starting EX5 5 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting the vehicle is not necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Thorverton Recreation Ground, a side street close to St Thomas of Canterbury: our technicians drain the vehicle where it is. Assuming won't help behind Neolithic Settlement, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
For Thorverton people, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Devon, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.