Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Hoe: Why It Occurs
Stop reading a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your engine has not turned, it is drained and fully purged where the car sits around West Hoe. Reading before the event? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and what to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round West Hoe and Barbican carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel goes in on each filling station visit, again and again. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which filler it needs. It is in that gap that the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around West Hoe: how it occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Radford Road, or on the way home in the car park at The West Hoe.
New-to-you cars are second, as well. Rentals, new vehicles and company motors place their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once begun, carries on. It takes seconds, whether in Millbay or bang in the centre of West Hoe.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Whether a West Hoe forecourt or a drive over in Mount Batten, take a couple of seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Look for it.
- Can't find it beside the diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Plymouth? Check with whoever drove it last before you set off, not once the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is in Devon — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Garden Crescent, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- Both behind a single flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Leave out stage five altogether.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around West Hoe?
Do not start the engine: that is how the short order of things starts. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so leave it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the Asda or the another forecourt nearby, ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. If you are on your own drive in West Hoe, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Where the engine has run already, stop somewhere safe then turn the car off. Leave the M5 — under 50 miles out of West Hoe — at the first exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Plymouth, under a mile away, is a bigger job than a short hop across West Hoe.
When we get there in West Hoe, what happens?
Anywhere the car has stopped, whether by St Andrew's Cof E VA Primary School, beside Look II or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — which liquid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — before dispatch.
Then the tank is emptied and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. Hence it counts more. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. Before we leave, our engineers start it and make sure that it's running smoothly.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. It's worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About West Hoe, for a moment
West Hoe is a coastal suburban area in Devon, situated near the city of Plymouth and adjacent to Millbay and Stonehouse. West Hoe sits at a low elevation of around 8 metres, with its predominant housing stock consisting of flats. West Hoe is close to the amenities and services of Plymouth, being only half a mile from the city centre.
West Hoe and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Stonehouse and Plymouth are among the places around West Hoe, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over PL postcodes. A postcode starting PL1 3 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle stays where it is. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Viking stone, a lay-by on the way to Millbay Park, a drive. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of The Fab Four, ring and ask instead of assuming.
West Hoe people: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it is, anywhere around Devon: keep the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.