AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Blaby: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
Stop here for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. In Blaby, finding it before your engine turns usually leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it takes place and the how to avoid it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels in South Wigston, as well as Blaby, run on two liquids; your engine gets just your diesel. 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, separate 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. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
Blaby: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Cross Street, perhaps at Fox & Tiger on the way home that evening.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once started, keeps on. Whether it happens in Whetstone or the middle of Blaby, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Fosse Park or a forecourt around Blaby, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to the diesel filler? In that case check below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- 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 at South Wigston.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, anywhere across Leicestershire, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Lutterworth Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- Both under one flap? So confirm the cap on the diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure your diesel cap remained closed throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Leave out step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Blaby?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the staff to help roll the car away from the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Texaco, the BP or somewhere else. If you are on your own drive in Blaby, leave the vehicle where it sits.
Already run? Pull over once it's safe, then switch off. Come off the M1 — under 3 miles out of Blaby — at the first exit. Distance matters — a quick hop across Blaby is a smaller job than driving under 5 miles to Leicester — so tell us about how far it went.
What takes place when we arrive around Blaby
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, whether outside Blaby Stokes Church of England Primary School, beside Blaby Library or at home, our van comes to it. We ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run, because the answers settle the work and our quote. During the call itself, you are told our price — ahead of dispatch.
Then the tank is cleared and your system flushed thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out unaided. That is why it matters more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before leaving, we start the engine and check that it is running correctly.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run need roughly half an hour once our engineers are there. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Blaby
Blaby is a village situated on the banks of the River Soar in Leicestershire, with a relatively low elevation of 71 metres. Blaby lies close to the city of Leicester, being only 4.2 miles away, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Whetstone, Eyres Monsell, and Glen Parva. Blaby has a population of approximately 2346 residents, who mostly reside in semi-detached housing. Blaby is located in the East Midlands region, about 85.9 miles north of London.
AdBlue drains around Blaby, and Leicestershire beyond
Blaby is a village, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, Eyres Monsell and Glen Parva among them, across the LE postcode area. Quickest of all: give a LE8 4 postcode to our van.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Bouskell Park, a side street close to Blend Reformer Pilates: our engineers drain the car where it sits. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Blaby Civic Centre.
In short, for Blaby motorists
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Leicestershire.