Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Woodcroft: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Woodcroft, catching it before the motor turns usually leaves draining and a thorough flush where it stands. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels in Tutshill, like those in Woodcroft, carry on two fluids; the engine gets only the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. On a lot of vehicles 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 pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Woodcroft: how it happens
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from your car, and running dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Woodcroft Lane, perhaps outside The Rising Sun on the way home after work.
New-to-you motors are next, as well. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it 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, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it takes place in Old Bishton or the middle of Woodcroft, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Tidenham or a forecourt in Woodcroft.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show what goes in which inlet right there.
- Can't find it beside your diesel inlet? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Chepstow, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
When the light comes on, anywhere in Gloucestershire, use this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Penmoyle Gardens.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have found your filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Stage five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Woodcroft already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — so leave it off. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Tesco or the BP, ask the attendants to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. If you're on your own driveway in Woodcroft, leave the vehicle where it is.
Already run? Pull over when it's sensible, then switch off. Woodcroft sits under 3 miles from the M48; on it, use the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Woodcroft is less work than a run of under 15 miles to Bristol, so tell us.
What occurs when our technicians turn up around Woodcroft
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Tutshill Church of England Primary School, close to St Luke or on your own driveway. What liquid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since those answers set both work and price. That quote is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Then that tank is drained and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. Filter flushed or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. Before we leave, our engineers fire it up and confirm that it's running properly.
If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. It's worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Woodcroft, for a moment
Woodcroft is a small village in Gloucestershire, situated near the coast and approximately 14 miles from Bristol. Woodcroft has a population of around 603 people and is characterised by detached housing. Woodcroft sits at an elevation of 91 metres, looking out over the surrounding countryside. Woodcroft is close to other nearby places such as Old Bishton and Broadrock.
AdBlue drains across Gloucestershire, Woodcroft included
Broadrock and Netherhope are among the towns around Woodcroft, a coastal village, that the same vans cover, throughout NP postcodes. A postcode starting NP16 7 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to shift the car. Wherever it sits — beside Wintour's Leap, in a layby heading to Lower Wyndcliff Wood, at home — that is where it gets drained. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Kestrel.
In short, for Woodcroft people
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Gloucestershire.