Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tinkers Cross: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Tinkers Cross. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to the motor — yet many current diesels driven about Tinkers Cross and Fordingbridge carry another liquid too. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of cars have a single flap for both, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think which filler it needs. That gap is where the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen in Tinkers Cross?
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a drive off Fryern Court Road before work, or in the car park outside Railway Hotel on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and if it is empty, limp mode follows.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it happens in Lower Burgate or the middle of Tinkers Cross, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Tinkers Cross forecourt or a driveway out in Horseport, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Salisbury, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, anywhere in Hampshire, use this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine off, and not rushed beside Linguire Lane at the roadside.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Leave out stage five entirely.
Tinkers Cross: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where your fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Harvest Energy, Esso or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car away when you ask. If you're on your own drive around Tinkers Cross, leave the vehicle where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Leave the M27 — under 10 miles out of Tinkers Cross — at the next exit. Distance counts — a short hop across Tinkers Cross is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles to Salisbury — so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our engineers get there around Tinkers Cross, what happens?
By Fordingbridge Junior School, near Amphitheatre or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. What fluid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because the answers decide both work and quote. Nobody heads out until you have heard the price over the phone.
The fuel system is then flushed thoroughly, once the tank is drained. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, certain metals corrode, and none of it clears away unaided, however long it sits. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Next we start it and make sure it runs correctly before we go.
Unrun vehicles mostly need a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Tinkers Cross and where it is
Tinkers Cross is a small village in Hampshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 41 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Tinkers Cross lies near the villages of Lower Burgate and Upper Burgate, and is close to the larger settlement of Ashford. Tinkers Cross is located approximately 9 miles from Salisbury and 82 miles from London, making it a rural community with some access to larger urban areas.
AdBlue drains around Tinkers Cross, and Hampshire beyond
As a village, Tinkers Cross has the same vans as nearby areas — Upper Burgate, Ashford — all the way across SP postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting SP6 1 gets our van to you fastest.
There's no need to move your car. Anywhere it stands — near Our Lady of Sorrows and St Philip Benizi, in a lay-by heading to Back Field, on a drive — that's where it gets drained. Guessing won't help at the back of Burgate Manor, on a border, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
Tinkers Cross people: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep the car off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Hampshire.