Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chilton Moor
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, leave the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Chilton Moor. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels around Sedgeletch, as well as Chilton Moor, carry on two liquids; your motor takes just your diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what filler to use. It is in that gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens in Chilton Moor
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and running out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Front Street, or at The Beehive on the way home that evening.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second thing: an unfamiliar motor.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. It's seconds, be it in Colliery Row or right in the heart of Chilton Moor.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Burnside or a forecourt in Chilton Moor, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- On many motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook shows which it is when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Chester-Le-Street, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — anywhere you are around Tyne and Wear — a simple routine to follow.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, engine off, and never rushed beside Avon Crescent on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Chilton Moor?
Don't start your motor: that is how the short order of things starts. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it by itself runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the JET, ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump. At home around Chilton Moor? Then your car remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. On the A1(M), under 3 miles from Chilton Moor, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Chilton Moor is less a job than a run of under 10 miles towards Durham, and so say.
Chilton Moor: what occurs when our technicians arrive
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Dubmire Primary, near St Andrew or on your own drive. Which liquid was put in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because those answers set the work and price. During the call itself, you hear our price — before anything else.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour job from arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Chilton Moor and where it is
Chilton Moor is a village situated on the riverside in Tyne and Wear, with an elevation of around 55 metres. Chilton Moor lies near the city of Durham, approximately 5.6 miles away, and is close to other nearby places such as Colliery Row and Fence Houses. Chilton Moor has a population of around 3454 people and is characterised by predominantly terraced housing. Chilton Moor is located in the North East region of England, about 237.1 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Tyne and Wear, Chilton Moor included
Over DH postcodes, our teams covering Chilton Moor — a village — work the surrounding locations too, High Dubmire and Fence Houses included. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting DH4 6.
There's no need to move your car. The drain happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a street by Bank Head Church, or a lay-by on the way to Joe's Pond. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Fencehouses War Memorial, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Chilton Moor drivers
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around Tyne and Wear, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.