How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bishop Middleham
Leave the engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the car sits around Bishop Middleham, is usually what it takes when found before your engine runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
No single liquid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels around Bishop Middleham and West Cornforth carry, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at each filling station call-out, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Bishop Middleham: how it takes place
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Bank Top before work, or in the car park outside The Cross Keys heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and if it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar vehicles come second, too. Rentals, new cars and company cars place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and after the pour begins, nothing halts it. It's seconds, be it in Mainsforth or bang in the heart of Bishop Middleham.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Bishop Middleham or a drive over in Garmondsway. A few seconds, that's all.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- On plenty of motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- Can't see it beside your diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says where.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Newton Aycliffe, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — wherever you are in Durham — a routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Front Street, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, yet it works.
- The two behind a single flap? So make sure the lid on your diesel filler is still shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap never came off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Leave out stage five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bishop Middleham?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, just where fuel is taken from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Sainsbury's or the Jet, ask the staff to help push your car clear of the petrol pump. If you are on your own driveway around Bishop Middleham, leave the vehicle where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. Bishop Middleham sits under a mile from the A1(M); there, use the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Durham, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Bishop Middleham.
Our arrival around Bishop Middleham, and what occurs next
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St Michael's Church of England Primary School, close to St Michaels, Bishop Middleham or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run, since those replies determine this work and the quote. That quote comes on the call, before any van leaves.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, after your 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 does not wash out on its own. Testing comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed if necessary. Your engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once we get there, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It's worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Bishop Middleham itself
Bishop Middleham is a village in County Durham, situated inland at an elevation of 93 metres, approximately 7.9 miles from the city of Durham. Bishop Middleham has a population of around 1136 people, predominantly residing in terraced housing. Bishop Middleham is located near other small settlements, including Mainsforth and Chilton Lane, and is connected to the wider region via Ferryhill Station. Bishop Middleham sits within the North East region, about 226.2 miles north of London.
AdBlue drains in Bishop Middleham and across Durham
Being a rural village, Bishop Middleham has the same vans as nearby places — Ferryhill Station, Chilton Lane — all the way through DL postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting DL17 9 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Wherever it sits — near Middleham Castle, on a lay-by heading to Bishop Middleham Community Wildlife Garden, at home — that's where it gets drained. Guessing won't help behind Hardwick Motocross, close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
The short version for Bishop Middleham drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it is, wherever around Durham: switch the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.