Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Writhlington
Stop reading for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where your vehicle stands around Writhlington, is normally what it needs when caught before the engine runs. Not happened yet? Below, the page covers the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Not one liquid but two: that's how many modern diesels near Writhlington and Southfield run, with diesel for the engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on many motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. It is in the gap that the error lives.
Writhlington: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Manor Road before work, or in the car park at The Fromeway Inn on the way home.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing halts the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Northfield or the middle of Writhlington: it takes the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Tyning or a forecourt in Writhlington.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On many cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Oldfield Park.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Anywhere in Somerset the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Church Hill.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Stop when that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, tip slowly through its own spout.
- Close the cap, and check again — confirm your diesel cap remained closed the whole time. Only then, start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five stays off limits.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Writhlington?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so leave it off. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, right where fuel is taken from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle clear of the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Murco, the Shell or somewhere else. Your own drive in Writhlington is where it should stay.
Already run? Pull over when it is sensible, then switch off. Writhlington sits under 15 miles from the M32; on it, take the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Writhlington is smaller a job than a run of under 10 miles towards Bath, and so say.
When our engineers get there around Writhlington, what takes place?
Anywhere the car has stopped, be it by St Mary's Church of England Primary School, beside Writhlington Methodist Church or at home, the van travels to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — what liquid, what quantity, and if it has run — so we ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we leave, our engineers fire it up and confirm that it's running properly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after we get there, as long as your motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Writhlington itself
Writhlington is a suburban area in Somerset, situated on the riverside near the city of Bath. Writhlington sits at an elevation of 133 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Writhlington is located close to nearby places such as Northfield and Green Parlour, and is approximately 7 miles from Bath. Writhlington has a population of around 1805 residents.
AdBlue drains around Writhlington, and Somerset beyond
Over BA postcodes, our vans that cover Writhlington — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Lower Writhlington and Green Parlour among them. Quote a postcode beginning BA3 3, and our van arrives quickest.
Your car doesn't need to move. Draining takes place right there, be it a drive, a street by Writhlington Village Hall, or a lay-by on the way to Radstock Northfield. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Dragonfly Leisure.
The short version for Writhlington drivers
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, wherever across Somerset: switch the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.