Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Trewoodloe
Pause here for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine has not turned, it's emptied and fully cleaned where your vehicle sits around Trewoodloe. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds your motor — but plenty of modern diesels seen round Trewoodloe and Trevigro carry a second liquid 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. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on every forecourt visit, week in, week out. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Trewoodloe: how it occurs
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Trefinnick Road, or on the way home in the car park at the pub in the village.
The old car's filler is where your hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the 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 takes a few seconds, whether out in Golberdon or right in the centre of Trewoodloe.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Maders or a forecourt around Trewoodloe.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- On plenty of cars, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check as you collect a rental or company car — at Menheniot's car park, perhaps — not when the light appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
For the day the warning appears — wherever it is around Cornwall — a simple routine to use.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time to spare — not rushing on the side of Redmoor Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The two behind one flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap was never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Trewoodloe: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Leave your ignition off as well, because on many diesels switching it on by itself starts your fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — Tesco, another forecourt nearby or any other — the staff will usually help push the vehicle clear, when you ask. Your own driveway around Trewoodloe is where it stays.
Where the engine has been run by now, pull over safely then turn it off. The next junction is the place to come off when you're on the M5, under 50 miles from Trewoodloe. A short hop across Trewoodloe is a smaller job than a run towards Plymouth, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
When we arrive in Trewoodloe, what takes place?
The van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, beside South Hill Parish Hall, or by Pensilva Primary School. Those answers determine this work and the quote, and so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. No one sets off until you have heard the price by phone.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after the tank is drained. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears away by itself. Hence it counts more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before leaving, our engineers fire it up and confirm that it is running properly.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Trewoodloe
Trewoodloe is a small hamlet situated on the riverside in Cornwall, with a population of around 535 people. Trewoodloe sits at an elevation of 86 metres, surrounded by rolling countryside and nearby villages such as Golberdon and South Hill. Trewoodloe is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Trewoodloe is located near the city of Plymouth, which is approximately 14 miles away.
Trewoodloe and Cornwall: AdBlue drains across the area
As a rural hamlet, Trewoodloe shares its vans nearby areas — Mornick, South Hill — all the way through PL postcodes and the wider area beyond. Fastest of all: give a PL17 7 postcode to our van.
Shifting the car isn't necessary. Wherever it sits — near St Sampson, on a layby heading to Bicton Wood, on a drive — that's where it is cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of St Melor? Close to a border? Checking beats guessing, so ring.
The short version for Trewoodloe motorists
Pour nothing until you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere around Cornwall.