Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Catterick Garrison: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Catterick Garrison. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it takes place and the how to avoid it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the engine — yet many current diesels seen round Catterick Garrison and Scotton hold another liquid too. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the fumes.
There is a filler on every tank. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at each filling station call-out, again and again. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Catterick Garrison
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and running dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Richmond Road, perhaps outside The Foxglove on the way home that evening.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: a new vehicle.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after started, carries on. It's a few seconds, whether out in Hipswell or bang in the centre of Catterick Garrison.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Look at these first, on a forecourt in Catterick Garrison or a drive over in Walkerville. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Northallerton? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in North Yorkshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Shute Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Catterick Garrison?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Tesco, JET or another forecourt will usually help to push the car away when you ask. Your own drive in Catterick Garrison is the place it should stay.
Where your engine has run already, pull over somewhere safe then turn it off. On the Catterick Bypass, under 3 miles from Catterick Garrison, that means the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Ripon, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Catterick Garrison.
When we turn up around Catterick Garrison, what takes place?
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, whether outside Hipswell Church of England Primary School, beside Savoy Catterick Garrison or at home, our van comes to it. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what liquid, what quantity, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the car. Next our technicians fire it up and confirm it runs correctly before leaving.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Catterick Garrison and where it is
Catterick Garrison is a locality situated on the banks of the River Swale in North Yorkshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Catterick Garrison sits at an elevation of around 141 metres, near the villages of Hipswell and Colburn. Catterick Garrison is located approximately 18 miles from the city of Ripon and about 209 miles north of London. Catterick Garrison has a population of around 1151 people, with the nearby town of Sandbeck also being a notable settlement in the area.
Catterick Garrison and North Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Colburn and Sandbeck are among the places near Catterick Garrison, a small village, that the same vans cover, over DL postcodes. Quote a postcode that starts DL9 3, and the van arrives fastest.
Moving your car is not necessary. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Catterick Community Library, a lay-by on the way to Coronation Park, a driveway. Guessing won't help behind Catterick Garrison Leisure Centre, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
For Catterick Garrison motorists, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across North Yorkshire.