AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Town: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
Stop reading for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out just where your vehicle sits around West Town, is normally what it takes when caught before your motor runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Not one liquid but two: that's how plenty of newer diesels near West Town and Cobnash carry, with diesel for the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Many of vehicles share a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each filling station visit, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in West Town: how it occurs
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up at once.
On a driveway off Hereford Lane before work, or in the car park at The Corners Inn on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
New-to-you cars are second, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company motors put their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. It's a few seconds, whether out in Kingsland or right in the centre of West Town.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a West Town forecourt or a driveway out in Mortimers Cross, spend a few seconds over these before any goes in.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Leominster, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — anywhere it is around Herefordshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Chapel Lane, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It works.
- The two under a single flap? Then make sure the cap on your diesel side is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and check again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went in the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Skip stage five entirely.
West Town: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Don't start your motor: that is how the short order of things begins. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the Morrisons or the Leominster Service Station, ask the staff to help push your car clear of the pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around West Town.
When your engine has run by now, stop somewhere safe then switch it off. Come off the M50 — under 25 miles out of West Town — at the first exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Hereford, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across West Town.
Our arrival around West Town, and what takes place next
Anywhere the car came to rest, be it by Kingsland CofE School, beside St. Michael and All Angels or at home, our van comes to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three answers — what fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. That price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The motor is started next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About West Town and where it is
West Town is a small suburban area situated on the riverside in Herefordshire, with a relatively low elevation of 92 metres. West Town lies near several nearby places, including Kingsland, Lugg Green, and Shirl Heath, and is located approximately 14 miles from the city of Hereford. West Town has a population of around 558 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
West Town and Herefordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, West Town shares its vans nearby places — Lugg Green, Shirl Heath — all the way through HR postcodes and the wider area around them. Give a postcode beginning HR6 9, and our van arrives quickest.
There's no need to move the car. Anywhere it sits — beside Eardisland Dovecote, on a layby en route to Mortimer Park, at home — that's where it gets emptied. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of St Mary the Virgin.
For West Town people, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout Herefordshire.