How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Weston
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Weston. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it happens and the how to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels on the roads round Weston and Primrose Hill carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place the two together under one flap. Diesel gets filled on every 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 often. That gap is where the error lives.
Weston: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Anchor Road before work, or in the car park at The Old Crown heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing halts the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, be it in Combe Park or right in the centre of Weston.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Newbridge or a forecourt in Weston.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- On plenty of motors, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many cars show which belongs in each filler just there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Oldfield Park? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across Somerset the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of High Street, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two share a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
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.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Weston already?
Don't start your engine: that is where the short order of things begins. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Gulf, the Sainsbury's or somewhere else. At home around Weston? Then your car remains put.
Already started? Pull over once it is sensible, then turn off. Weston lies under 10 miles from the M4; on it, use the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Weston is less work than a run of under 3 miles to Bath, so say.
What takes place when we turn up around Weston
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside St Mary's Catholic Primary School, close to Weston Parish Hall or on your own drive. What fluid got in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask because those answers set both work and quote. During the call itself, you hear the price — before anything else.
Draining that tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. The motor is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs properly, all before our technicians head off.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Weston itself
Weston is a suburban area in Somerset, situated on the River Avon, with Combe Park and Weston Park nearby. Weston sits at an elevation of 57 metres, close to the city of Bath, and is characterized by semi-detached housing. Weston is part of the larger urban area surrounding Bath, with Upper Weston also in the vicinity. Weston has a population of approximately 4959 residents.
AdBlue drains around Weston and across Somerset
Being a residential suburb, Weston has the same vans as nearby areas — Weston Park, Upper Weston — all the way across BA postcodes and the wider area around them. A postcode starting BA1 4 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving the car is not necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Weston (Bath) Bowls Club, a side street near Weston Public Library: we drain it where it sits. Guessing won't help at the back of All Saints Church Centre, on a border, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
Weston drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep it switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Somerset.