AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Upper Heyford: Why It Happens and How to Stop It
Stop here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. In Upper Heyford, catching it before your motor turns normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Below, the page covers the why it occurs and the ways to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Upper Heyford and Middleton Stoney carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of cars share a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every filling station call-out, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Upper Heyford: how it occurs
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
Haste follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Dow Street, or heading home in the car park at Barley Mow.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
Nothing stops the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Upper Heyford or out in Caulcott.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these first, at a forecourt around Upper Heyford or a driveway over in Fewcott. A few seconds, no more.
- 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.
- On plenty of cars, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Heyford, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere in Oxfordshire, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Camp Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find during the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Stage five is out.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Upper Heyford?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Esso, JET or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car clear if asked. Your own drive around Upper Heyford is where it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. The next junction is where to come off if you're on the M40, under 3 miles from Upper Heyford. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Oxford, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Upper Heyford.
Our arrival in Upper Heyford, and what takes place next
Outside Dr Radcliffe's Church of England Primary School, near Heyford Park Community Centre or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our engineers come to it. What liquid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because the answers set the work and quote. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the fuel system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Your engine is started next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before we head off.
Unstarted cars usually mean a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Upper Heyford
Upper Heyford is a village in north Oxfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 129 metres, approximately 12 miles north of Oxford. Upper Heyford has a mix of housing types, with semi-detached homes being predominant, and is close to nearby villages such as Caulcott and Lower Heyford. Upper Heyford is located within commuting distance of Oxford and is about 56 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Oxfordshire, Upper Heyford included
Over OX postcodes, the vans covering Upper Heyford — a rural village — work the surrounding locations too, Somerton and Lower Heyford included. A postcode starting OX25 5 gets the van to you fastest.
The car does not need to move. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Heyford Park Chapel, a lay-by on the way to Heyford Park Community Garden, a drive. Awkward to explain, like the back of Heyford Park Free School Specialisms Campus? Close to a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so phone.
The short version for Upper Heyford motorists
Read the cap before you pour. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it stands, wherever around Oxfordshire: keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103.