How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Liss
Keep your motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a full flush, done right where your vehicle sits in West Liss, is normally what it takes if caught before the engine runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels around West Liss and Princes Marsh run, with diesel for your engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying treats the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place in West Liss?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from your car, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Farnham Road, or at The Spread Eagle on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is the second factor: a strange motor.
Third, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and after the pour starts, nothing stops it. Whether it happens in Burgates or the middle of West Liss, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a West Liss forecourt or a driveway over in Liss Forest, take a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it lives when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Liss? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Wherever around Hampshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine off, and never rushed by Opie Gardens on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly using its built-in spout.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
West Liss: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Don't start your engine: that's where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Esso, the BP or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in West Liss.
Already started? Pull over when it's sensible, then turn off. Come off the Waterlooville Bypass — under 10 miles out of West Liss — at the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing West Liss is less work than a run of under 25 miles to Chichester, so say.
What occurs when we turn up around West Liss
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, be it outside Liss Junior School, near Crossover Youth Centre or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run, since those answers decide the work and our quote. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes out on its own, no matter how long it is left. A test is last: before that, clean diesel is added, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Next our technicians start the car and make sure it runs smoothly before we go.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine has not run take roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It's worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About West Liss, for a moment
West Liss is a suburban area in Hampshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 69 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. West Liss lies near the villages of Burgates, Liss, and Lower Green, and is approximately 15.5 miles from Chichester. West Liss is also within commuting distance of London, being around 46 miles away. West Liss has a population of around 1106 people.
AdBlue drains across Hampshire, West Liss included
As a residential suburb, West Liss has the same vans as surrounding areas — Liss, Lower Green — right through GU postcodes and the wider area beyond. Quickest of all: give a GU33 6 postcode for our van.
The car does not need to move. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to St Mary's War Memorial, a lay-by on the way to West Liss Playing Field, a drive. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of St Mary's Church, Liss.
West Liss people: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, anywhere across Hampshire: switch it off and ring 0333 366 0103.