AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Whitecroft: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Stop here a minute if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Whitecroft, catching it before the motor turns normally leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it happens and the how to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the motor — but many current diesels seen about Whitecroft and Yorkley carry another liquid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank comes with one filler of its own. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Whitecroft
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Pillowell Road, perhaps at The Miner's Arms on the way home after work.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is the second thing: a new car.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, keeps on. Whether it takes place in Phipps Bottom or the middle of Whitecroft, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Whitecroft forecourt or a driveway over in Brockhollands, spend a couple of seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Lydney.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere around Gloucestershire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Park Hill.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, confirm it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once that tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly through its built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Stage five is out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Whitecroft already?
Don't start your motor: that's how the short order of things starts. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Central Garage, Co-op or any forecourt will usually help to push the car away if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Whitecroft.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. On the M5, under 10 miles from Whitecroft, that means the next exit. Distance counts — a quick hop across Whitecroft is a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Gloucester — so tell us about how far it went.
What takes place when we arrive in Whitecroft
By Pillowell Community Primary School, close to Pillowell Village Hall or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our engineers come to it. Those answers decide the work and the price, and so we ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run. On the call itself, you hear our price — before anything else.
Draining that tank comes next, then a full flush of your system. 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 here than with petrol. Once the fuel filter has been flushed — or renewed, where required — clean diesel goes in, and then the vehicle gets tested. We don't leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Whitecroft, briefly
Whitecroft is a small village in Gloucestershire, situated near the coast and approximately 15 miles from Gloucester. Whitecroft has a population of around 1068 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Whitecroft sits at an elevation of 40 metres, close to nearby places such as Phipps Bottom and Pillowell.
AdBlue drains around Whitecroft, and Gloucestershire beyond
Being a coastal village, Whitecroft shares its vans nearby places — The Eaves, Pillowell — all the way across GL postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quote a postcode that starts GL15 4, and the van arrives fastest.
No need to move your car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Saint Paul, a lay-by on the way to Bream's Eaves Inclosure 2, a driveway. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of West Dean Centre, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Whitecroft motorists
Always, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Gloucestershire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.