Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Close House: Why It Happens
Pause reading for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Close House, catching it before the engine runs usually means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it happens and the ways to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that is how many newer diesels around Close House and Gray Street carry, with diesel feeding the motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in at every forecourt visit, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the mistake lives.
Close House: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the vehicle, and running dry leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Gibson Street, perhaps at Lord Elliotts on the way home after work.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and after the tip begins, nothing halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Close House or out in Eldon.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Regent Street or a forecourt in Close House, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to your diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Shildon.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere across Durham, use this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Heslop Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, confirm it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look once more — making sure your diesel cap remained shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Skip step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Close House already?
Don't start your motor: that is how the short order of things starts. Keep the ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on alone runs your fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Gulf, the JET or somewhere else. Your own driveway in Close House is the place it should stay.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Close House sits under 5 miles from the A1(M); there, take the next exit. Mileage matters — a short hop across Close House makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Durham — so tell us about how far it went.
Close House: what happens when we arrive
Anywhere the car came to rest, whether outside Prince Bishops Community Primary School, beside Eldon Community Centre or on your own drive, the van comes to it. The answers settle the work and our quote, so we ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run. You hear that price by phone, before anyone heads out.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is emptied. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes out on its own, no matter how long it sits. Filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of the car. Next we start it and check it runs properly before leaving.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we get there, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Close House itself
Close House is a small village in County Durham, situated inland at an elevation of 106 metres, approximately 9 miles from the city of Durham. Close House has a population of around 826 residents, with predominantly terraced housing. Close House is located near several other small villages, including Eldon, Coundon Grange, and Eldon Lane, in the north east of England.
AdBlue drains in Close House and across Durham
Close House is a rural village, and the teams that cover it also work the places near it, Coundon Grange and Eldon Lane among them, across the DL postcode area. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting DL14 8.
The vehicle stays where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Shildon Millennium Green, a side street close to St Mark's Church: our technicians drain the car where it sits. Guessing won't help behind The Valley Methodist Church, on a border, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
For Close House people, the short version
First, the cap; then, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it is, anywhere in Durham: keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103.