AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Clayton: Why It Happens and How to Stop It
Pause reading for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the vehicle sits in Clayton, is normally what it takes if caught before the motor runs. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels in Trent Vale, like those in Clayton, run on two liquids; your motor takes just the diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both side by side under one flap. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place around Clayton?
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running dry leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Kingsdown Mews, or outside The Gatehouse on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar vehicles are next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as easily, and after the tip begins, no part stops it. It takes seconds, be it in Springfields or right in the heart of Clayton.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Clayton forecourt or a drive over in Oakhill, take a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- 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 vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Stoke-On-Trent, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, wherever across Staffordshire, follow this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Seabridge Lane.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, but it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both sit under a flap, confirm it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Finish once your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently using its built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step 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 Clayton?
Do not start the motor: that is how the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push your car away from the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Esso, the Tesco or anywhere else. Your own drive in Clayton is where it stays.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M6, under a mile from Clayton, that means the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Stoke-on-Trent, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Clayton.
When our engineers turn up around Clayton, what happens?
Anywhere the car has stopped, be it outside Our Lady and St Werburgh's Catholic Primary School, near Our Lady and St Werburgh RC or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Which fluid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: we ask since the replies set both work and quote. You hear that price by phone, before anybody heads out.
Then the tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. 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 that counts more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once we get there, as long as your engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Clayton itself
Clayton is a suburban area in Staffordshire, situated on the riverside near Stoke-on-Trent. Clayton sits at an elevation of 144 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Clayton is located close to other nearby places such as Springfields, Westlands, and Seabridge, and is approximately 3.1 miles from Stoke-on-Trent. Clayton has a population of around 5986 residents.
AdBlue drains across Staffordshire, Clayton included
Westlands and Seabridge are among the towns near Clayton, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over ST postcodes. Fastest of all: give a ST5 4 postcode to our van.
The vehicle stays put. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near St James the Great, a lay-by on the way to Roe Lane Playing Fields, a drive. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Clayton Library.
For Clayton motorists, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Staffordshire.