Whipsiderry: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Leave the engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain plus a full flush, carried out just where the vehicle stands in Whipsiderry, is normally all it needs if found before the motor runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your motor — yet plenty of current diesels seen about Whipsiderry and Trenance carry a second fluid as well. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from a separate tank.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
Whipsiderry: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Alexandra Road, perhaps at The Mermaid on the way home after work.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
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 after it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Whipsiderry or out in Porth.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Treninnick or a forecourt in Whipsiderry.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of cars mark what belongs in which inlet just there.
- The handbook shows which it is if the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Newquay, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Cornwall that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Trevelgue Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look once more — making sure the diesel cap remained shut the whole time. After that, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Step five stays off limits.
Whipsiderry: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, just where fuel is taken from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the Morrisons, ask the attendants to help push your car away from the pump. If you're on your own drive in Whipsiderry, leave it where it stands.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Whipsiderry sits over 50 miles from the M5; on it, take the first junction. Distance matters — a quick hop across Whipsiderry makes a smaller job than driving under 15 miles to Truro — so say about how far it went.
What takes place when we turn up in Whipsiderry
Wherever your car came to rest, whether by St Columb Minor Academy, near Treviglas Sports Hub or at home, our van comes to it. What liquid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our technicians ask since those answers decide both work and quote. Nobody sets off before you have heard the price over the phone.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that matters 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. Testing comes last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or replaced as needed. Then our engineers fire it up and check it runs smoothly before we leave.
Unrun cars usually mean a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Whipsiderry
Whipsiderry is a small suburban area situated on the north coast of Cornwall, with Porth and Newquay nearby. Whipsiderry sits at an elevation of 32 metres, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Whipsiderry has a population of around 1154 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Whipsiderry is located near the city of Truro, which is 11.4 miles away.
AdBlue drains round Whipsiderry, and Cornwall beyond
Throughout TR postcodes, our teams covering Whipsiderry — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Newquay and St Columb Minor included. Give a postcode that starts TR7 3, and the van gets there quickest.
The vehicle remains put. Anywhere it sits — beside St Columba, on a layby heading to The Barrowfields, at home — that's where it is cleared. Awkward to explain, like the back of Newquay Sports and Community Centre? Close to a border? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
In short, for Whipsiderry drivers
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Cornwall.