How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Coates
Stop reading for a moment when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. In Coates, finding it before your motor runs usually leaves draining and a thorough flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page covers the reasons it takes place and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that's what many modern diesels near Coates and Wapping carry, with diesel for the engine. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from its own tank.
There's a filler on every tank. Many of motors have a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. It is in the gap that the slip happens.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Coates?
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Ben Lane before work, or in the car park at Jac's heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is a second factor: a strange vehicle.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as easily, and once the tip starts, no part halts it. It's seconds, be it out in Long Ing or bang in the heart of Coates.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Coates forecourt or a driveway over in Town Head, take a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it is if the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Colne, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Wherever in Lancashire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Hawthorne Drive.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, yet it works.
- The two behind a single flap? So make sure the lid on the diesel filler stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and check once more — confirm the diesel cap stayed closed throughout. After that, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Coates: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Texaco, Shell or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push your car away when asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Coates.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Coates lies under 5 miles from the M65; there, use the first exit. A short hop across Coates is a smaller job than a run towards Bradford, under 25 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Coates, and what occurs next
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Coates Lane Primary School, close to Gospel Mission or on your own driveway. The replies settle the work and the quote, so our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run. That price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it counts more. Testing comes last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or changed if necessary. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running properly.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Coates, briefly
Coates is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. Coates sits at an elevation of 159 metres, near the towns of Long Ing and Croft, and is approximately 19.5 miles from Bradford. Coates is part of the wider North West region, with London around 187.7 miles to the south. Coates has a population of around 2403 people, living in a variety of housing types, predominantly terraced.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, Coates included
Croft and Barnoldswick are among the places around Coates, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over BB postcodes. A postcode starting BB18 6 gets our van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift the car. Wherever it sits — near War Memorial, on a layby heading to Rolls-Royce Leisure, at home — that is where it gets emptied. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St Joseph's Church, ring and ask rather than guessing.
For Coates drivers, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Lancashire.