AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tonedale: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Around Tonedale, finding it before the engine runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it occurs and the how to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to your engine — but plenty of modern diesels driven round Tonedale and Rockwell Green hold another liquid too. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
Tonedale: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things lining up at once.
On a drive off Millstream Gardens before work, or in the car park outside The Dolphin on the way home: that's 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.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: a new car.
Nothing halts the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Tone or the heart of Tonedale: it takes the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Tonedale or a drive over in Westford. Seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Plenty of motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Taunton? Check with the person who drove it last before you set off, rather than when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — anywhere it is in Somerset — a routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Wardleworth Court, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Finish when your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly using its own spout.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Leave out stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Tonedale already?
Short order, then. First: the motor stays off. Leave the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts your fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the attendants to help push your car away from the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Esso, the BP or anywhere else. If you are on your own drive around Tonedale, leave it where it is.
Where your motor has been run by now, pull over somewhere safe and turn the car off. Tonedale lies under 3 miles from the M5; on it, use the first junction. A short hop across Tonedale is a smaller job than a run towards Exeter, under 25 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians get there around Tonedale, what occurs?
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Beech Grove Primary School, near Wellington Methodist Church or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, because those answers determine the work and our quote. During the phone call itself, you are told our price — before anything else.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, after your tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or changed as needed. The motor is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs properly, all before we head off.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Tonedale, for a moment
Tonedale is a suburban area in Somerset, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 59 metres, with the River Tone flowing nearby. Tonedale is located near the towns of Wellington and the villages of Tone and Gundenham, and is approximately 22 miles from Exeter. Tonedale has a population of around 2520 people and predominantly consists of terraced housing. Tonedale is also within commuting distance to larger cities, with London being around 139 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Somerset, Tonedale included
Throughout TA postcodes, our vans that cover Tonedale — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Wellington and Gundenham among them. A postcode starting TA21 0 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car does not need to shift. Wherever it sits — beside Wellington Sports Centre, in a layby en route to Stedhams Covert, on a drive — that is where it is cleared. Awkward to explain, like the back of Wellington Squash and Racketball Club? Close to a county line? Checking beats assuming, so ring.
For Tonedale people, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, wherever around Somerset: switch the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.