Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Wells
Pause reading a minute when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Wells. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of current diesels on the roads about Wells and Haybridge carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to fresh them, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Wells?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car 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 Guard House Lane before work, or in the car park outside The King's Head on the way home.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: a new car.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as readily, and after the tip starts, no part halts it. Whether it takes place in St Andrew or the middle of Wells, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Wells or a driveway over in Dulcote. Seconds, that's all.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it beside your diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Castle Cary, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Somerset that is.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Union Street.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — once you've found the filler and read it.
- The two under one flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel side is still closed before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Leave out stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Wells already?
Brief order, then. First: your engine remains unstarted. Keep the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts the pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — Esso, Morrisons or another — the attendants will usually help roll your car away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Wells.
Already run? Stop when it is sensible, then switch off. Come off the M5 — under 15 miles out of Wells — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Bristol, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Wells.
What takes place when our technicians get there in Wells
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St Joseph and St Teresa Catholic Primary School, close to Wells Library or on your own driveway. Those replies settle the work and the price, so our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and whether it has run. On the phone call itself, you are told our price — ahead of anything else.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, after your tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. That is why it matters more. Filter cleaned or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a check of your vehicle. The motor is started next and tested to confirm it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor has not run take roughly half an hour once our technicians are there. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Wells
Wells is a small city in Somerset, situated on the River Axe in the south west of England. Wells sits at an elevation of around 45 metres, with the surrounding landscape dominated by the Mendip Hills. Wells is characterised by its semi-detached housing stock and has a population of approximately 14702 residents. Wells is located near several smaller settlements, including St Andrew, Keward, and Walcombe.
AdBlue drains across Somerset, Wells included
Wells is a cathedral city, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Keward and Walcombe among them, across the BA postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a BA5 2 postcode for the van.
Your car does not need to move. Anywhere it sits — near Market place, on a lay-by heading to Wells Recreation Ground, on a drive — that is where it gets cleared. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Wells United Church, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Wells drivers
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the car switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Somerset.