Walcot: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the vehicle sits in Walcot, is normally what it takes if found before your motor runs. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the reasons it occurs and the ways to prevent it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many modern diesels around Bath, like those in Walcot, run on two liquids; the engine gets only the diesel. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
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 your boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump happens constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
Walcot: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Saint Stephen's Road before work, or in the car park outside The Curfew on the way home.
Unfamiliar vehicles are second, too. Rentals, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Lansdown or the middle of Walcot: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Be it a Walcot forecourt or a drive out in Fairfield Park, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver knows. Check as you collect a rental or company car — from Bath Spa's car park, perhaps — not once the warning comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere around Somerset, follow this routine.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and never rushed beside Camden Crescent on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Don't carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Walcot already?
Brief list, then. Top of that: your motor remains unstarted. Keep the ignition off as well, since on many diesels it by itself runs your pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the Sainsbury's, ask the staff to help push the car away from the pump. At home in Walcot? So the vehicle stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. Walcot sits under 10 miles from the M4; there, use the first exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Bath, under a mile away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Walcot.
What happens when we arrive in Walcot
Our van comes to the car wherever it stopped — your own drive, beside Walcot Methodist Chapel, or by St Andrew's Church School. Our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run, because the answers determine the work and the quote. You get that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once your tank is cleared. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. After your filter is flushed — or renewed, if needed — clean diesel is added, and then your vehicle is tested. The engine is started next and tested to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
Unrun cars usually need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Walcot
Walcot is a suburban area located on the River Avon in Somerset, with a mix of residential and commercial properties. Walcot sits adjacent to the city of Bath, with which it is closely associated, and is characterised by its predominantly flat housing stock. Walcot is situated near several other notable areas, including Lansdown, Beacon Hill, and Sion Hill, and is relatively low-lying at an elevation of 87 metres. Walcot is also within easy reach of a range of local amenities and services, given its proximity to Bath city centre.
AdBlue drains in Walcot and across Somerset
Over BA postcodes, our teams that cover Walcot — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Sion Hill and Beacon Hill among them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BA1 5.
The vehicle stays where it is. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to St Swithin’s, a lay-by on the way to Hedgemead Park, a drive. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Museum of Bath at Work? By a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
The short version for Walcot motorists
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it stands, anywhere in Somerset: keep it off then call 0333 366 0103.