Basford: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, leave the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Basford. Not happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it takes place and the ways to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that's what plenty of newer diesels around Basford and Wolstanton carry, with diesel for the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which filler it needs. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur around Basford?
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Elm Street, or on the way home in the car park at The Polite Vicar.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: a strange car.
Nothing stops 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. Whether it occurs in May Bank or the middle of Basford, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Newcastle-under-Lyme or a forecourt around Basford.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of motors mark what belongs in which inlet just there.
- In the 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 — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Longport.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere around Staffordshire, follow this routine.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, motor off, and never rushed beside Norman Grove at the roadside.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — after you've found your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Stop when the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour gently through its own spout.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Step five is out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Basford already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
The attendants at Asda, Esso or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car clear when you ask. At home in Basford? Then your car stays where it is.
Where your motor has been run by now, stop somewhere safe then switch the vehicle off. The next junction means the place to leave when you are on the M6, under 3 miles from Basford. Distance counts — a short hop across Basford is a smaller job than heading under 3 miles towards Stoke-on-Trent — so say roughly how far it went.
Basford: what occurs when we arrive
Our van comes to the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, beside St. Mark's Basford, or outside May Bank Infants' School. Both the work and the price rest on three answers — which liquid, what amount, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. During the phone call itself, you are told the price — before dispatch.
Then the tank is drained and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out unaided. That is why it counts more. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Then we start the engine and make sure it runs properly before we leave.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Basford itself
Basford is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England, sitting at an elevation of 161 metres near the River Trent. Basford is characterised by its semi-detached housing stock and is situated close to nearby places such as May Bank, The Brampton, and Cliff Vale. Basford is home to a population of approximately 6067 residents and is about 1.6 miles from Stoke-on-Trent city centre. Basford benefits from its riverside setting, which offers scenic views and walking opportunities.
AdBlue drains across Staffordshire, Basford included
Being a residential suburb, Basford has the same vans as surrounding areas — The Brampton, Cliff Vale — right through ST postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Give a postcode beginning ST5 0, and our van arrives fastest.
The vehicle remains where it is. Wherever it sits — beside Basford Lawn Tennis Club, on a lay-by en route to Wolstanton Marsh, at home — that is where it is drained. Tricky to pin down, like the back of New Victoria Theatre? By a county line? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
For Basford drivers, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Staffordshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — and so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.