Butterwick: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, leave your ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where your car sits around Butterwick, is normally what it takes when caught before your motor runs. Here in advance? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and how to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels on the roads around Butterwick and West End carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the 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.
There is a filler on every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on every forecourt visit, week in, week out. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. The mistake lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place in Butterwick
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Sea Lane before work, or in the car park at The Five Bells on the way home.
New-to-you cars come second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
No part halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Butterwick or out in Benington.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Butterwick forecourt or a drive out in Haltoft End, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Boston.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever around Lincolnshire, follow this routine.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, engine off, and not rushed beside Benington Road on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- Both behind a single flap? So make sure the lid on the diesel filler stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently through the built-in spout.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find during the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Butterwick?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — Gulf, Texaco or another — the staff will usually help push the vehicle away, when you ask. If you're on your own drive in Butterwick, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. The next junction means where to come off if you are on the A1(M), under 50 miles from Butterwick. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Lincoln, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Butterwick.
Butterwick: what happens when our engineers turn up
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside The Butterwick Pinchbeck's Endowed CofE Primary School, close to Butterwick Village Hall or on your own drive. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — what liquid, what quantity, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. During the call itself, you are told the price — ahead of dispatch.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, after that tank is cleared. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. That is why it matters more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we leave, our technicians start it and confirm that it is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once we get there, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Butterwick and where it is
Butterwick is a small coastal village in Lincolnshire, situated near the mouth of the Haven, with a low elevation of around 6 metres above sea level. Butterwick lies within a short distance of other nearby villages, including Benington, Brand End, and Freiston. Butterwick has a population of approximately 843 residents, who mostly live in detached houses. Butterwick is located about 30 miles from the city of Lincoln and around 102 miles from London.
AdBlue drains around Butterwick, and Lincolnshire beyond
Butterwick is a coastal village, and the teams that cover it also work the places near it, Brand End and Freiston among them, across the PE postcode area. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting PE22 0.
The car stays where it is. Wherever it stands — beside St. Andrew, in a lay-by en route to Butterwick Park, at home — that is where it is emptied. Assuming won't help behind Danny Flear Centre, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
In short, for Butterwick people
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, anywhere in Lincolnshire: switch the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.