AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Wilton: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Wilton, finding it before your engine runs normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it happens and the ways to prevent it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the engine — but many current diesels driven round Wilton and Ugford hold another liquid as well. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
There is a filler on every tank. On a lot of cars 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 filled at the petrol pump all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Wilton
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off North Street, perhaps outside The Bear Inn on the way home that evening.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
No part halts the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Wilton or out in Bulbridge.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Quidhampton or a forecourt in Wilton.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Salisbury.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Wiltshire that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Silver Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both sit under a flap, confirm it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check again — confirm your diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Leave out stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Wilton already?
Brief order, then. Top of it: your motor stays off. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Texaco or the Shell, ask the staff to help push your car clear of the pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Wilton.
Already run? Stop when it is sensible, then turn off. On the M27, under 25 miles from Wilton, that means the next junction. A short hop across Wilton is a smaller job than a run towards Salisbury, under 5 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What takes place when we arrive in Wilton
Wherever the car has stopped, be it outside Wilton CofE Primary School, near St. Mary's Church or at home, our van comes to it. We ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run, because those answers decide the work and our price. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that matters 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. Once your filter is cleaned — or renewed, where required — clean diesel goes in, and finally your car is tested. The motor is started next and tested to confirm it runs properly, all before our engineers leave.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine has not run need roughly half an hour after we arrive. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Wilton, briefly
Wilton is a town situated on the banks of the River Nadder in Wiltshire, with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. Wilton sits at an elevation of 56 metres, close to the city of Salisbury and near the villages of Bulbridge, Fugglestone St Peter, and Ditchampton. Wilton has a population of approximately 4693 residents and is located about 80 miles west of London. Wilton is characterized by its riverside setting and relatively low elevation,
Wilton and Wiltshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Wilton is a riverside town, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, Fugglestone St Peter and Ditchampton among them, across the SP postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting SP2 0.
The car remains put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Temple Copse, a side street close to Michael Herbert Hall: we drain the car where it is. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St Mary & St Nicholas, ring and ask instead of assuming.
For Wilton motorists, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it is, wherever in Wiltshire: switch the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.