How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Blacker Hill
Stop reading a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your motor has not turned, it is emptied and fully purged where the car is around Blacker Hill. Reading in advance? In that case the rest explains why it happens and what to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your engine — yet many current diesels seen about Blacker Hill and Lewden hold another fluid as well. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Separate 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 visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Blacker Hill
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and letting it run out means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Worsbrough Road, perhaps at The Royal Oak on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: a new vehicle.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it takes place in Platts Common or the middle of Blacker Hill, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Hoyland or a forecourt around Blacker Hill, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel filler? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Check with 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 Wombwell.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the light appears — wherever it is around South Yorkshire — a routine to follow.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Wentworth Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when the tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly using the built-in spout.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Blacker Hill?
Brief list, then. First: your engine stays unstarted. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Brobot Hoyland Service Station, Shell or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the vehicle away if you ask. Your own driveway around Blacker Hill is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Blacker Hill lies under 3 miles from the M1; there, take the first exit. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Blacker Hill makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Sheffield — so say about how far it went.
Blacker Hill: what occurs when our technicians turn up
By Jump Primary Academy, near War Memorial or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Which fluid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because those replies decide the work and price. Nobody heads out before you've heard our price by phone.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. After the filter is cleaned — or renewed, if required — fresh diesel goes in, and then the car gets tested. Before leaving, we fire it up and confirm that it is running smoothly.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run need roughly half an hour once we are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Blacker Hill itself
Blacker Hill is a small village in South Yorkshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 144 metres. Blacker Hill lies approximately 9 miles north of Sheffield, near the villages of Platts Common, Upper Hoyland, and Jump. Blacker Hill has a population of around 694 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Blacker Hill is located about 149 miles north of London, in the heart of the Yorkshire and the Humber region.
AdBlue drains around Blacker Hill, and South Yorkshire beyond
As a rural village, Blacker Hill shares its vans surrounding areas — Upper Hoyland, Jump — all the way through S postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quickest of all: quote a S74 0 postcode to our van.
Moving the car isn't necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Stone Circle, a lay-by on the way to Gang Wood, a drive. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Lowe Stand.
In short, for Blacker Hill motorists
Always, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around South Yorkshire.