AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Woolacombe: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. In Woolacombe, finding it before your motor turns usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. Here in advance? Then the rest explains why it comes about and what to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Not one fluid but two: that is what plenty of modern diesels around Woolacombe and Ossaborough run, with diesel for your engine. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the gas to fresh it, from its own tank.
There is a filler for each 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. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. It's in the gap that the mistake happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Woolacombe?
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off West Road, or on the way home in the car park at Tides Inn.
Unfamiliar cars come second, too. Rentals, new motors and company motors place their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
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 settle it, in the middle of Woolacombe or out in Mortehoe.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Pickwell or a forecourt around Woolacombe.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook shows where it is when your filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with 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 at Barnstaple.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Anywhere across Devon the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Beach Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- Both behind one flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel side is still shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Finish when your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly using the own spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Woolacombe: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Brief order, then. First: the motor remains unstarted. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Murco, Golden Coast Service Station or another forecourt will normally help to push your car clear if asked. Your own driveway in Woolacombe is where it should stay.
Already run? Stop when it is safe, then switch off. Woolacombe sits under 50 miles from the M4; there, take the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Swansea, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Woolacombe.
When we arrive in Woolacombe, what happens?
Our van reaches your car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near The Story of Two Villages, or by Woolacombe School. We ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run, because those replies determine this work and the price. That price comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of the car. Your engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our engineers head off.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Woolacombe itself
Woolacombe is a coastal village in north Devon, situated near the towns of Mortehoe and Willingcott. Woolacombe sits at a low elevation of around 24 metres, with its detached houses and other residential areas looking out over the sea. Woolacombe is a small community, with a population of approximately 699 people, and is located near the village of Higher Warcombe. Woolacombe is about 177.5 miles west of London, and 33 miles from the nearest city, Swansea.
Woolacombe and Devon: AdBlue drains across the area
Woolacombe is a coastal village, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, Higher Warcombe and Willingcott among them, across the EX postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting EX34 7.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Bay Hotel Golf Course, a side street close to Woolacombe Parish Church: our technicians drain the vehicle where it sits. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Woolacombe Village Hall, on a border, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
For Woolacombe motorists, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the car switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Devon.