Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cowgate
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, keep your ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where the car stands around Cowgate, is normally what it takes when caught before your motor runs. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
No single liquid but two: that's what many newer diesels near Cowgate and Fenham carry, with diesel feeding the motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump happens constantly. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. It is in that gap that the error happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Cowgate: how it happens
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Hillsleigh Road before work, or in the car park at The Balloon on the way home.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
Third, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and once the tip begins, no part halts it. Whether it takes place in Kenton Bar or the middle of Cowgate, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Cowgate or a driveway over in East Denton. Seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On many motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many motors show which belongs in each filler right there.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Newcastle? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever across Tyne and Wear, follow this routine.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not rushing on the side of Springfield Roundabout.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Cowgate?
Don't start the engine: that's how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the Morrisons, ask the staff to help roll the car away from the petrol pump. Your own drive in Cowgate is the place it stays.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit means the place to come off if you are on the Central Motorway East, under 3 miles from Cowgate. A short hop across Cowgate is a smaller job than a run towards Newcastle upon Tyne, under 3 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our engineers get there around Cowgate, what happens?
By Thomas Walling Primary Academy, close to St. Peter's Church or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run, because those answers determine the work and the price. No one heads out until you have had the quote by phone.
Draining that tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel 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 is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Then we start it and confirm it runs correctly before we go.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our engineers get there, provided the engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Cowgate and where it is
Cowgate is a suburban area located inland in Tyne and Wear, approximately 2.3 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne. Cowgate sits at an elevation of around 97 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Cowgate is close to nearby places such as Kenton Bar, Blakelaw, and Kenton, and is situated about 249 miles north of London. Cowgate has a population of around 8246 people.
AdBlue drains in Cowgate and across Tyne and Wear
Blakelaw and Kenton are among the places near Cowgate, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over NE postcodes. Give a postcode that starts NE5 3, and our van arrives fastest.
Shifting the car is not necessary. Anywhere it stands — beside The Salvation Army - Newcastle City Temple, on a lay-by heading to Stamfordham Road Recreation Ground, at home — that's where it gets drained. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of English Martyrs Church, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Cowgate drivers: the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Tyne and Wear.