Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tidworth Camp: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done right where the car sits around Tidworth Camp, is normally what it takes when caught before your engine runs. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to the engine — but many modern diesels driven about Tidworth Camp and Shipton Bellinger carry another liquid as well. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the gas to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Every tank has a filler of its own. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both side by side under one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what cap it needs. The slip lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Tidworth Camp: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Humber Lane, or heading home in the car park outside Ram Inn.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have 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 once it has started. It takes a few seconds, whether out in South Tidworth or right in the heart of Tidworth Camp.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt around Tidworth Camp or a driveway out in Perham Down. Seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- Cannot see it next to your diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook will say which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Grateley.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light comes on — wherever it is across Wiltshire — a simple routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Bulford Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Stop when that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly using its own spout.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Tidworth Camp?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Esso, the Murco or somewhere else. Your own drive around Tidworth Camp is the place it stays.
Already run? Pull over when it's safe, then switch off. On the M4, under 25 miles from Tidworth Camp, that means the next junction. Mileage matters — a short hop across Tidworth Camp makes a smaller job than heading under 15 miles to Salisbury — so say roughly how far it went.
Tidworth Camp: what happens when we arrive
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Clarendon Junior School (Clarendon Federation), near Tedworth House or on your own drive. What fluid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers set the work and quote. On the call itself, you hear our price — before anything else.
Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of that washes away unaided, however long it is left. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we leave, our technicians fire it up and check that it's running properly.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor hasn't run take about half an hour after our technicians arrive. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Tidworth Camp and where it is
Tidworth Camp is a suburban area situated on the banks of the River Avon in Wiltshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Tidworth Camp sits at an elevation of 113 metres, near the towns of South Tidworth, Tidworth, and North Tidworth. Tidworth Camp is located approximately 12 miles from Salisbury and 69 miles from London, making it a commuter base for those working in the nearby cities. Tidworth Camp has a population of around 2428 residents, living in a relatively small and quiet community.
AdBlue drains across Wiltshire, Tidworth Camp included
As a residential suburb, Tidworth Camp has the same vans as nearby places — Tidworth, North Tidworth — right across SP postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Give a postcode that starts SP9 7, and the van arrives quickest.
Your car doesn't need to shift. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Tidworth Leisure Centre, a lay-by on the way to Clive House Plantation, a driveway. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Tidworth Garrison Theatre? Close to a county line? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
Tidworth Camp drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it stands, wherever across Wiltshire: switch the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.