AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Allington: Why It Happens 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 then phone 0333 366 0103. In Allington, finding it before your engine turns usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. 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.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels in Muston, like those in Allington, run on two liquids; your engine gets only your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump happens constantly. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
Allington: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
On a driveway off Main Road before work, or in the car park outside Welby Arms on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and if it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
No part halts the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Allington or out in Sedgebrook.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Great Gonerby or a forecourt in Allington.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- On plenty of vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles mark what belongs in each inlet just there.
- The handbook shows which it is when your filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with 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 outside Bottesford.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever across Lincolnshire, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Bottesford Road, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently using the own spout.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Leave out stage five entirely.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Allington?
Brief order, then. Top of that: your engine stays unstarted. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of blending — and that's where your fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — JET, Esso or any other — the staff will usually help push the vehicle away, when you ask. On your own drive in Allington? So your car stays put.
Already run? Stop once it is safe, then turn off. Come off the M1 — under 25 miles out of Allington — at the next junction. A short hop across Allington is a smaller job than a run towards Nottingham, under 25 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Allington: what takes place when our technicians arrive
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Allington with Sedgebrook Church of England Primary School, near Holy Trinity Church, West Allington or on your own drive. Our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, since those replies settle the work and our quote. During the call itself, you are told the quote — before anything else.
Draining the tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and nothing washes out unaided, no matter how long it sits. Once your filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if needed — clean diesel is added, and then your vehicle is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before we head off.
If the engine 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 after dark. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Allington itself
Allington is a small village in Lincolnshire, situated in the East Midlands region of England, with a population of around 587 people. Allington sits at an elevation of approximately 50 metres, near the villages of Sedgebrook and Foston. Allington is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Allington is located about 17.7 miles from Nottingham and 103 miles from London.
AdBlue drains in Allington and across Lincolnshire
Allington is a rural village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Foston and Gonerby Moor among them, across the NG postcode area. Fastest of all: give a NG32 2 postcode to the van.
Moving the car isn't necessary. Anywhere it sits — near St Lawrence, on a layby en route to Allington Jubilee Playing Field, on a drive — that's where it gets drained. Tricky to explain, like the back of St Peter? Close to a border? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
The short version for Allington drivers
Pour nothing until you have read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Lincolnshire.