How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Boothen
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Boothen. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel feeds your motor — yet plenty of modern diesels seen around Boothen and Trent Vale carry a second fluid as well. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on every tank. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both together behind one flap. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the slip happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Boothen
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off Penkville Street before work, or in the car park outside The Wellington Inn on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, carries on. It takes seconds, be it out in Oakhill or right in the heart of Boothen.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Boothen forecourt or a drive over in Sideway, spend a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Stoke-On-Trent, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
On the day the light appears — anywhere it is around Staffordshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, motor off, and not rushed beside Shelburne Street at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two share a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Finish when that tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently using its built-in spout.
- Close the cap, and check once more — making sure the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. After that, start your car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Skip step five entirely.
Boothen: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Don't start the engine: that's how the short order of things begins. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Sainsbury's, Tesco or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the car clear when asked. At home in Boothen? So the car stays where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Boothen sits under 3 miles from the M6; there, take the next junction. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Boothen is a smaller job than driving under 3 miles to Stoke-on-Trent — so say about how far it went.
Boothen: what happens when our engineers get there
The van comes to the car wherever it stopped — your own drive, near Timothy Trow, or by Stoke Minster CofE Primary Academy. We ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run, because the answers decide the work and the price. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then the tank is emptied and the system cleaned thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. Once the fuel filter has been cleaned — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then your vehicle is tested. Before we go, our engineers start the engine and confirm that it is running smoothly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run need about half an hour after we are there. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Boothen, briefly
Boothen is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England, sitting at an elevation of 110 metres near the River Trent. Boothen is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing stock and is situated close to nearby places such as Oakhill and Penkhull. Boothen has a population of approximately 7188 residents and is part of the wider Stoke-on-Trent urban area. Boothen is about 1.9 miles from Stoke-on-Trent city centre and 134.9 miles from London.
Boothen and Staffordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout ST postcodes, our teams covering Boothen — a residential suburb — work the nearby locations too, Stoke-upon-Trent and Penkhull included. Quickest of all: quote a ST4 5 postcode for the van.
The car does not need to move. Anywhere it sits — beside Circus Elephant Gates, in a lay-by en route to The Villas, at home — that's where it gets drained. Assuming won't help behind Race Horse Fencing, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
The short version for Boothen drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it stands, anywhere in Staffordshire: keep it off and ring 0333 366 0103.