How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Townsend
Stop here for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Around Townsend, finding it before your engine runs usually means a drain and a full flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page covers the why it occurs and the how to avoid it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the engine — yet plenty of modern diesels driven about Townsend and Lydeway carry another fluid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both together under one flap. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what cap it needs. The mistake lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens in Townsend
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from your car, and running out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off The Croft, or outside The Lamb on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is a second thing: a strange motor.
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 after it has started. It's a few seconds, be it in Urchfont or right in the heart of Townsend.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Townsend forecourt or a driveway out in Eastcott, take a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to your diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Pewsey, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever across Wiltshire, use this routine.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and never rushed by B3098 at the roadside.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found the filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both share a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
Discover at the second or third stage that the bottle went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Skip stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Townsend already?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of blending — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Esso, Murco or another forecourt will normally help to push your car clear when asked. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Townsend.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. On the M4, under 25 miles from Townsend, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Townsend is smaller work than a run of under 25 miles towards Salisbury, and so say.
When our engineers get there in Townsend, what takes place?
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, be it outside Urchfont Church of England Primary School, beside St Michael and All Angels or at home, the van comes to it. Those answers decide the work and our price, and so we ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes away on its own, no matter how long it sits. The filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a test of the car. The motor is fired up next and checked to make sure it runs smoothly, all before our engineers go.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour visit from arrival. The kit is fine on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Townsend itself
Townsend is a suburban area in Wiltshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 120 metres. Townsend lies near the villages of Urchfont and Wedhampton, and is close to the junction at Cuckoos Corner. Townsend is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, and is located approximately 17.8 miles from the city of Salisbury. Townsend is also within commuting distance of London, being around 79.3 miles west of the capital.
Townsend and Wiltshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Cuckoos Corner and Wedhampton are among the places around Townsend, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout SN postcodes. Quote a postcode beginning SN10 4, and our van gets there fastest.
The car doesn't need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Farmers Field, a side street close to Urchfont Village Hall: our engineers drain the car where it is. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Planks Farm Shop.
Townsend people: the short version
Pour nothing till you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around Wiltshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.