AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Lydford: Why It Occurs and How to Stop It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. In West Lydford, finding it before the motor runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that's what many modern diesels around West Lydford and Keinton Mandeville carry, with diesel feeding your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both together under one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around West Lydford: how it happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off High Street before work, or in the car park outside Cross Keys Inn on the way home.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: a strange car.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after started, keeps on. Whether it happens in Lydford-on-Fosse or the middle of West Lydford, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Wheathill or a forecourt in West Lydford, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of cars mark which belongs in which inlet right there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Castle Cary, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is across Somerset — a simple routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of A37.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have found your filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly using its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in West Lydford already?
Don't start your motor: that's how the short order of things starts. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car away from the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Shell, the Esso or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in West Lydford.
Where the motor has run already, stop somewhere safe and turn it off. On the M5, under 25 miles from West Lydford, that means the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Wells, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across West Lydford.
When our engineers arrive around West Lydford, what takes place?
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Keinton Mandeville Primary School, close to St Peter or on your own driveway. Both the work and our price rest on three replies — which liquid, which quantity, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. During the phone call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of anything else.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, once that tank is emptied. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We don't go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour visit from arrival. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About West Lydford itself
West Lydford is a small village in Somerset, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 27 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. West Lydford lies near the city of Wells, approximately 8.8 miles away, and is also close to other nearby places such as Lydford-on-Fosse and East Lydford. West Lydford has a population of around 531 residents and is located in the South West region of England, about 111.7 miles from London. West Lydford enjoys a peaceful setting, surrounded by the Somerset countryside.
AdBlue drains around West Lydford, and Somerset beyond
Over TA postcodes, our vans that cover West Lydford — a village — work the nearby locations too, East Lydford and Lydford Fair Place among them. Give a postcode beginning TA11 7, and the van gets there fastest.
Shifting the vehicle is not necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Wheathill Golf Club, a side street close to St Mary: we drain it where it stands. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Church (Remains of), ring and ask rather than assuming.
For West Lydford drivers, the short version
First, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around Somerset, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.