Dalton: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, keep the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Dalton, catching it before the motor turns normally means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Reading before the event? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many newer diesels on the roads about Dalton and Aldwarke carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Other cars put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have the two together under one flap. Diesel gets filled at every filling station visit, again and again. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. It is in that gap that the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Dalton: how it happens
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
On a driveway off Dalton Lane before work, or in the car park at Station Hotel heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, carries on. Whinney Hill or the heart of Dalton: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in East Dene or a forecourt around Dalton.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On plenty of cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it lives when your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver knows. Check when you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Rotherham Central's car park, perhaps — rather than when the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — anywhere it is around South Yorkshire — a routine to follow.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, motor stopped, and never rushed by Osberton Way on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — after you've located the filler and read it.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop when the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, and look again — confirm the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. After that, start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip step five entirely.
Dalton: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your engine. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than mixing — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Asda or the another forecourt nearby, ask the attendants to help push the car away from the pump. If you're on your own driveway in Dalton, leave the vehicle where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. Leave the M18 — under 5 miles out of Dalton — at the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Dalton is smaller a job than a trip of under 10 miles to Sheffield, and so say.
Our arrival in Dalton, and what takes place next
Wherever your car came to rest, be it by High Greave Junior School, near Silverwood Miners Welfare Resource Centre or at home, the van travels to it. Both the work and our price rest on three replies — what fluid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. On the call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of anything else.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes away on its own, however long it sits. Filter flushed or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. After that our engineers start it and confirm it runs correctly before leaving.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine hasn't run need about half an hour once our engineers are there. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Dalton and where it is
Dalton is a village situated on the riverside in South Yorkshire, with an elevation of 31 metres above sea level. Dalton lies approximately 7.5 miles from Sheffield and 142.8 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Dalton has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are the most predominant. Dalton is surrounded by nearby places such as Whinney Hill, Dalton Parva, and East Herringthorpe.
AdBlue drains about Dalton, and South Yorkshire beyond
Dalton Parva and East Herringthorpe are among the towns around Dalton, a village, that the same vans cover, throughout S postcodes. A postcode starting S65 3 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to move your car. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Silverwood Miners Welfare Resource Centre, a side street near Dalton Parish Hall: our engineers drain it where it is. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Life In Our Woodlands, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In short, for Dalton drivers
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, wherever in South Yorkshire: switch the car off and call 0333 366 0103.