Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cottesmore: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, keep your ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where your car stands in Cottesmore, is normally what it takes when caught before your motor runs. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels around Exton, like those in Cottesmore, carry on two fluids; the engine gets only your diesel. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
Cottesmore: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off The Leas before work, or in the car park outside The Sun Inn heading home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, keeps on. Whether it takes place in Barrow or the middle of Cottesmore, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these first, at a forecourt in Cottesmore or a driveway out in Burley. A few seconds, that's all.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- On many motors, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Oakham, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Rutland that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Main Street.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- The two under a single flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel filler stays shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to step five.
Cottesmore: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Do not start the motor: that is how the short order of things begins. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the base rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Pace, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push your car clear when asked. If you are on your own drive around Cottesmore, leave the car where it sits.
Already started? Pull over once it is safe, then switch off. On the Great North Road, under 25 miles from Cottesmore, that means the next junction. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Cottesmore makes a smaller job than heading under 25 miles towards Peterborough — so say about how far it went.
Our arrival around Cottesmore, and what happens next
The van comes to the car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, near St Nicholas, Cottesmore, or by St Nicholas Church of England Primary School. The replies determine the work and our price, so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. The quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. That is why it counts more. The filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the vehicle. The engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before we leave.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Cottesmore
Cottesmore is a small village in Rutland, situated in the East Midlands region of England, with a population of around 599 people. Cottesmore sits at an elevation of 135 metres, approximately 20 miles from Peterborough and 86 miles from London. Cottesmore is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, and is surrounded by nearby villages such as Barrow, Greetham, and Market Overton. Cottesmore remains a quiet, rural community with a strong sense of local identity.
Cottesmore and Rutland: AdBlue drains across the area
Over LE postcodes, the teams covering Cottesmore — a rural village — work the surrounding locations too, Market Overton and Greetham among them. Quote a postcode beginning LE15 7, and our van gets there fastest.
Your car stays where it is. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Limekiln Spinney, a side street near Cottesmore Village Sign: our technicians drain it where it stands. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Cottesmore Community Centre, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In short, for Cottesmore drivers
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it stands, wherever around Rutland: keep it off then call 0333 366 0103.