Dalton-le-Dale: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Dalton-le-Dale. Reading in advance? In that case what follows covers why it happens and how to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that is what plenty of modern diesels near Dalton-le-Dale and Parkside run, with diesel for your engine. Your exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to fresh it, from a separate tank.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on many vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled at each forecourt visit, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Dalton-le-Dale: how it occurs
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Dene Road before work, or in the car park at Fox & Tree heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a rental car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once started, carries on. It takes a few seconds, whether in Deneside or right in the heart of Dalton-le-Dale.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Cold Hesledon or a forecourt in Dalton-le-Dale.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Seaham.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever across Durham, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of The Graham Way.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check again — confirm the diesel filler stayed closed the whole time. After that, start your car.
Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Leave out stage five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Dalton-le-Dale?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so leave it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the staff to help push your car away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Esso, the Morrisons or somewhere else. If you are on your own driveway in Dalton-le-Dale, leave the vehicle where it is.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the A1(M), under 10 miles from Dalton-le-Dale, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Dalton-le-Dale is smaller a job than a run of under 10 miles towards Sunderland, and so tell us.
Dalton-le-Dale: what takes place when our engineers get there
The van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, beside Dalton-le-Dale Community Hall, or outside Seaview Primary School. The replies determine the work and the quote, and so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it's run. During the phone call itself, you hear the quote — before anything else.
Then that tank is cleared and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Once the filter has been flushed — or replaced, if required — fresh diesel goes in, and finally the car is tested. Then our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs properly before we leave.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run need about half an hour after our technicians are there. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Dalton-le-Dale, for a moment
Dalton-le-Dale is a small village in County Durham, situated on the coast near Sunderland. Dalton-le-Dale has a population of around 873 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Dalton-le-Dale sits at an elevation of approximately 50 metres, looking out over the coastal landscape. Dalton-le-Dale is close to nearby places such as Deneside, Westlea, and Eastlea.
AdBlue drains across Durham, Dalton-le-Dale included
Being a coastal village, Dalton-le-Dale has the same vans as surrounding areas — Westlea, Eastlea — all the way through SR postcodes and the surrounding area around them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SR7 8.
Your car does not need to shift. The drain happens right there, be it a drive, a street by St. Andrew's, or a layby towards Malvern Field. Assuming won't help behind Eastlea Community Centre, close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
In short, for Dalton-le-Dale people
Always, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Durham, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.