AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Burgh-by-Sands: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
Keep the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where your car stands in Burgh-by-Sands, is normally what it needs if caught before the engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Burgh-by-Sands and Moorhouse carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place the two together under one flap. Diesel goes in on each forecourt visit, again and again. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Burgh-by-Sands: how it happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a drive off Marsh House Gardens before work, or in the car park outside Greyhound Inn heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, carries on. It's a few seconds, be it out in Longburgh or right in the centre of Burgh-by-Sands.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Thurstonfield or a forecourt around Burgh-by-Sands.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Plenty of motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Carlisle, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere around Cumbria, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Southfield, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park and switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Never carry on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Burgh-by-Sands?
Do not start the engine: that's how the short order of things starts. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, just where fuel is taken from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the Todhills, ask the staff to help roll the car away from the pump. At home in Burgh-by-Sands? So the car remains where it is.
When the motor has run by now, pull over somewhere safe and turn the car off. Come off the M6 — under 5 miles out of Burgh-by-Sands — at the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Burgh-by-Sands is smaller a job than a trip of under 10 miles towards Carlisle, so tell us.
Burgh-by-Sands: what takes place when our technicians get there
By Burgh by Sands School, near Saint Michaels Church or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — what fluid, which amount, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. The price comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears away unaided. Hence it matters more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running properly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Burgh-by-Sands
Burgh-by-Sands is a small village on the Solway Coast in Cumbria, situated near the Scottish border and approximately 5 miles from Carlisle. Burgh-by-Sands has a low elevation of around 17 metres above sea level, with the village being close to the nearby settlements of Longburgh and Dykesfield. Burgh-by-Sands is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its role as a residential community within the wider Carlisle area.
Burgh-by-Sands and Cumbria: AdBlue drains across the area
Burgh-by-Sands is a coastal village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Dykesfield and Monkhill among them, across the CA postcode area. A postcode starting CA5 6 gets the van to you fastest.
The car stays where it is. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Milecastle 73 (site of), a lay-by on the way to Holy Well wood, a driveway. Tricky to explain, like the back of King Edward the 1st? By a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so phone.
In short, for Burgh-by-Sands drivers
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, wherever in Cumbria: switch the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.