AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Austerfield: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, keep the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the motor has not run, it is drained and fully cleaned where your vehicle sits around Austerfield. Reading in advance? In that case the rest covers why it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels around Scaftworth, like those in Austerfield, run on two liquids; your engine takes only the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of vehicles have a single flap for both, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. It's in that gap that the mistake happens.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Austerfield: how it happens
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Low Field Lane before work, or in the car park at Mayflower on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
New-to-you cars come next, too. Hire cars, new cars and company cars put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as readily, and after the tip begins, no part halts it. Newington or the middle of Austerfield: it is the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Scrooby or a forecourt in Austerfield.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside your diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check when you collect a hire car or fleet car — at Doncaster's car park, say — rather than once the warning appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in South Yorkshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of High Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, yet it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Don't go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Austerfield already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the another forecourt nearby, ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. At home in Austerfield? So the vehicle stays where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. The next exit is the place to come off if you are on the A1(M), under 5 miles from Austerfield. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Doncaster, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Austerfield.
Our arrival in Austerfield, and what takes place next
By Bawtry Mayflower Primary School, near St Helena or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Which fluid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: we ask since those replies set the work and quote. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. Hence it counts more. Once the fuel filter is flushed — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally the car is tested. Then our technicians start the engine and make sure it runs properly before we go.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after we get there, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It is worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Austerfield, briefly
Austerfield is a small village in South Yorkshire, situated near the towns of Bawtry and Doncaster. Austerfield lies in a low-lying area of the county, with an elevation of around 13 metres, and is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock. Austerfield is close to several nearby villages, including Newington and Misson, and is approximately 7.5 miles from Doncaster. Austerfield has a population of around 551 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains across South Yorkshire, Austerfield included
As a rural village, Austerfield shares its vans nearby areas — Bawtry, Misson — right across DN postcodes and the surrounding area around them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting DN10 6.
No need to move the car. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Kings Wood, a side street close to Bawtry Community Library: we drain the vehicle where it stands. Tricky to pin down, like the back of St Nicholas? Close to a border? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
The short version for Austerfield motorists
Read the cap before you tip. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it stands, wherever around South Yorkshire: keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.