AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Watleys End: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
Stop reading a minute if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Watleys End, finding it before the motor runs normally means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of current diesels on the roads about Watleys End and Frampton End carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of cars have a single flap for the two, while some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Much less often, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
Watleys End: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Factory Road before work, or in the car park at Masons Arms on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is a second thing: a strange vehicle.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as readily, and once the pour begins, nothing stops it. North Corner or the heart of Watleys End: it is the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Watleys End forecourt or a drive out in Kendleshire, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Bristol Parkway.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Gloucestershire that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Manor Lane.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- The two under a single flap? So make sure the cap on the diesel side is still shut before raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Leave out step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Watleys End?
Brief list, then. First: your engine remains unstarted. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so keep it off. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Esso, BP or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the car clear if asked. If you're on your own drive around Watleys End, leave the car where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Leave the M4 — under 3 miles out of Watleys End — at the first exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Bristol, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Watleys End.
Watleys End: what occurs when we turn up
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, whether outside Elm Park Primary School, beside Winterbourne & District Community Association or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — which fluid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. Nobody heads out until you have had our quote over the phone.
Then that tank is emptied and your system flushed thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. Hence it matters more. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Then our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs correctly before we leave.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit from arrival. The kit is safe on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About Watleys End itself
Watleys End is a suburban area in Gloucestershire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 57 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Watleys End lies approximately 7 miles from Bristol and 101.7 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Watleys End is surrounded by nearby places such as North Corner, Frampton Cotterell, and Winterbourne, and has a population of around 2402 residents.
AdBlue drains about Watleys End, and Gloucestershire beyond
Frampton Cotterell and Winterbourne are among the towns near Watleys End, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout BS postcodes. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BS36 1.
No need to shift your car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Fromeside Gymnastics Club, a lay-by on the way to Crossbow Fields, a driveway. Awkward to explain, like the back of Salem Methodist Church? By a border? Asking is better than assuming, and so phone.
In short, for Watleys End motorists
First, the cap; then, the tip. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, anywhere around Gloucestershire: switch it off and ring 0333 366 0103.