Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Tolgus: Why It Occurs
Leave your motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before your motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around West Tolgus. Here in advance? In that case what follows explains how it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels near West Tolgus and Sparnon Gate run, with diesel for your engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler on each tank. Plenty of cars share a single flap for the two, while others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around West Tolgus?
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Lower West Tolgus before work, or in the car park outside Tricky Dickies on the way home.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
No part halts the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of West Tolgus or out in Tolgus Mount.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Tolskithy or a forecourt around West Tolgus.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many cars show what belongs in each filler just there.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Redruth's car park, say — not once the light appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — wherever it is around Cornwall — a simple routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Lowarn Pras.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The two behind one flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel side is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and check again — making sure your diesel filler remained shut the whole time. Only then, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in West Tolgus?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Texaco, Tesco or any forecourt will usually help pushing the car away if asked. On your own drive around West Tolgus? So your car stays put.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M5, over 50 miles from West Tolgus, that means the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Truro, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across West Tolgus.
When our technicians arrive around West Tolgus, what happens?
By Treloweth Community Primary School, near Redruth Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — what fluid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. On the call itself, you are told the price — before anything else.
Then the tank is cleared and the system purged thoroughly. 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 matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. We don't leave until it has been started and is running properly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour once we are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About West Tolgus, for a moment
West Tolgus is a suburban area in Cornwall, situated near the coast and approximately 9 miles from Truro. West Tolgus has a population of around 1480 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. West Tolgus sits at an elevation of 93 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. West Tolgus is located near notable places such as Tolgus Mount and Illogan.
AdBlue drains in West Tolgus and across Cornwall
Over TR postcodes, the teams that cover West Tolgus — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Paynters Lane End and Illogan included. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting TR15 3.
Moving your car isn't needed. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Moseley Heritage Museum, a lay-by on the way to Oxland Park, a drive. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Chimney, close to a border, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
The short version for West Tolgus motorists
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, anywhere across Cornwall: keep the car off then call 0333 366 0103.