Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Wash Common
Keep the motor and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Around Wash Common, catching it before your motor runs normally leaves a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
No single liquid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels around Wash Common and Crockham Heath run, with diesel for the motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump happens constantly. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Wash Common: how it happens
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Normay Rise before work, or in the car park outside The Bowler's Arms heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode follows.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Nothing halts the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes seconds, be it in Wash Water or right in the heart of Wash Common.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Horris Hill or a forecourt around Wash Common, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- The size. On plenty of motors 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.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? Then look beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Newbury.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever around Berkshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Bell Holt on the verge.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — once you've located your filler and read the cap.
- Both behind a single flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel filler stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap never opened off.
Find during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Leave out step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Wash Common?
Do not start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Sainsbury's, Tesco or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the car away when you ask. Your own drive around Wash Common is the place it stays.
When your engine has run already, stop somewhere safe then turn it off. The next exit means where to leave if you're on the M4, under 10 miles from Wash Common. A short hop across Wash Common is a smaller job than a run towards Winchester, under 25 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
When we turn up in Wash Common, what happens?
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, whether outside Falkland Primary School, beside Barrow or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Those answers determine the work and our price, and so we ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run. Nobody heads out before you have had our quote over the phone.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. That is why it matters more. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. The engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs properly, all before our technicians leave.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run need about half an hour after we are there. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Wash Common and where it is
Wash Common is a suburban area in Berkshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 130 metres, with Wash Common being close to nearby places such as Wash Water, Enborne Row, and Skinners Green. Wash Common has a population of approximately 3055 residents, with detached housing being the predominant type in the area. Wash Common is located near the city of Winchester, about 21.8 miles away, and is also within commuting distance to London, which is around 53.6 miles away.
Wash Common and Berkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Wash Common is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Enborne Row and Skinners Green among them, across the RG postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting RG14 6.
The car remains put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Lushy Gully, a side street close to Burial Mound: our technicians drain the car where it is. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of St George the Martyr Church.
In short, for Wash Common drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Berkshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.