AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Coates: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
Keep the motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In Coates, catching it before the motor turns normally means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's what many modern diesels near Coates and Eldernell carry, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Coates: how it occurs
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off North Green, or heading home in the car park outside The Carpenters Arms.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Nothing stops the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Coates or out in Oldeamere.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Bassenhally Field or a forecourt in Coates, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- On many cars, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it lives when your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Whittlesea? Check with the person who drove it last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, anywhere across Cambridgeshire, use this routine.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine stopped, and never rushed by South Green at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Stop when your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently through the own spout.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Skip stage five entirely.
Coates: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The attendants at BP, Esso or another forecourt will normally lend a hand to push your car away when asked. Your own driveway around Coates is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. On the Great North Road, under 10 miles from Coates, that means the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Peterborough, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Coates.
When our technicians turn up around Coates, what happens?
Outside Coates Primary School, near Coates Village Sign or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run, since the replies determine the work and the quote. During the call itself, you hear our quote — before dispatch.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. The filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; then a check of your vehicle. The engine is fired up next and checked to make sure it runs smoothly, all before we go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our technicians get there, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About Coates, briefly
Coates is a village in Cambridgeshire, situated inland near the city of Peterborough. Coates lies close to the villages of Oldeamere, The Lipneas, and Eastrea, in a low-lying area with an elevation of around 6 metres. Coates has a population of approximately 1437 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Coates is located about 72.9 miles from London, making it a rural community within commuting distance of the capital.
AdBlue drains about Coates, and Cambridgeshire beyond
Coates is a rural village, and the teams that cover it also work the places around it, The Lipneas and Eastrea among them, across the PE postcode area. A postcode starting PE7 2 gets the van to you fastest.
Your car stays put. Draining happens right there, whether a driveway, a road by Coates War Memorial, or a layby on the way to North Green. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Coates Methodist Church, on a boundary, or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
The short version for Coates drivers
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Cambridgeshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.