How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Brigham
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, keep the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Brigham, catching it before the motor runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single liquid but two: that's what many modern diesels around Brigham and Greysouthen carry, with diesel feeding your engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. It's in that gap that the slip lives.
Brigham: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off The Hill before work, or in the car park at Brigham And District Social Club on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — since a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and after the pour starts, nothing stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Brigham or out in Broughton Cross.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Nepgill or a forecourt around Brigham, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside 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 — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Flimby.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Cumbria that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Hill Crescent, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both sit under a flap, confirm it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap never came off.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Step five is out.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Brigham?
The short order of things, starting with no starting your engine. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Oakhurst Petrol Station, Essex Garage or another forecourt will normally help to push the vehicle away when asked. On your own drive around Brigham? Then the vehicle stays put.
Where the motor has run by now, pull over somewhere safe then turn the vehicle off. The next exit is the place to leave if you are on the Southwaite Services Northbound, under 25 miles from Brigham. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Brigham is less work than a run of under 50 miles to Carlisle, and so say.
Brigham: what takes place when we get there
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside St Bridget's CofE School, close to Village Hall or on your own driveway. Both the work and the price rest on three answers — which fluid, which amount, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. Nobody heads out before you have heard the price by phone.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once your tank is drained. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of it washes out on its own, no matter how long it sits. After the filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if required — clean diesel goes in, and finally the vehicle gets tested. The motor is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians head off.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Brigham itself
Brigham is a village situated on the banks of a river in Cumbria, with an elevation of around 61 metres. Brigham lies approximately 25 miles from Carlisle and 257 miles from London, making it a rural community in the north-west of England. Brigham is characterised by its semi-detached housing and is near to other small settlements such as Broughton Cross and Great Broughton. Brigham has a population of around 808 people.
AdBlue drains across Cumbria, Brigham included
Brigham is a village, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Great Broughton and Little Broughton among them, across the CA postcode area. Fastest of all: give a CA13 0 postcode for the van.
There's no need to shift the car. We drain it where it is — a side street close to St Bridget's Church, a lay-by on the way to Samsons Wood, a drive. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Baptist.
Brigham drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere around Cumbria.