Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tolcarne: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, keep the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Tolcarne. Reading in advance? Then the rest covers why it happens and how to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to your engine — yet plenty of modern diesels driven around Tolcarne and Carharrack hold a second liquid too. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to clean them, from its own tank.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt visit, again and again. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. It is in that gap that the error lives.
Tolcarne: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Brickworks Hill, or heading home in the car park outside St Day Inn.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is a second thing: a new vehicle.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after started, keeps on. Vogue or the middle of Tolcarne: it takes the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Tolcarne forecourt or a drive over in Trefula, take a couple of seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Redruth, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the light appears — anywhere it is in Cornwall — a simple routine to follow.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Forth-An-Eglos on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The two under a single flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel filler stays shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Leave out stage five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Tolcarne?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, right where fuel is taken from.
The attendants at Texaco, Shell or another forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the vehicle clear when asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Tolcarne.
Already started? Stop when it is sensible, then turn off. On the M5, over 50 miles from Tolcarne, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Tolcarne is smaller work than a trip of under 10 miles towards Truro, and so say.
Our arrival around Tolcarne, and what takes place next
Anywhere the car has stopped, be it by St Day and Carharrack Community School, near St Day Community Centre or at home, the van travels to it. Both the work and our price rest on three replies — which fluid, which amount, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. Nobody sets off until you have heard the quote over the phone.
Then the tank is drained and the system cleaned thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of it clears out unaided. Hence it counts more. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your vehicle. Before leaving, our technicians start the car and check that it is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, as long as the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Tolcarne itself
Tolcarne is a suburban area in Cornwall, situated approximately 6 miles from the city of Truro. Tolcarne sits inland, at an elevation of around 115 metres, and is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing. Tolcarne is located near other small settlements, including Vogue, St Day, and Lower Ninnis, and is home to a population of around 1432 residents. Tolcarne is also relatively distant from London, at a distance of 237 miles.
AdBlue drains around Tolcarne, and Cornwall beyond
St Day and Lower Ninnis are among the towns around Tolcarne, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout TR postcodes. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting TR16 5.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Anywhere it stands — beside Holy Trinity Parish Church, St. Day, on a lay-by heading to Wheal Jewel Playing Field, on a drive — that's where it gets drained. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Day Old Church, ring and ask instead of assuming.
For Tolcarne drivers, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere around Cornwall.