Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Deeping St James: Why It Occurs
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Deeping St James, catching it before the engine runs normally leaves draining and a full flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it takes place and the how to prevent it altogether.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the engine — yet many modern diesels driven about Deeping St James and Market Deeping carry a second fluid as well. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from its own tank.
There's a filler for each tank. Many of vehicles share a single flap for the two, while some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on each filling station call-out, week in, week out. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
Deeping St James: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from your car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Church Street, perhaps outside The Waterton Arms on the way home that evening.
New-to-you motors come next, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Deeping Gate or the middle of Deeping St James, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Be it a Deeping St James forecourt or a drive out in The Rectory, take a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On plenty of cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of motors mark what belongs in which inlet just there.
- The handbook says where it is when the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Peterborough? Ask the person who drove the car last before leaving, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Lincolnshire that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Church Gate.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, confirm it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap never opened off.
Find during the second or third step that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Never go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Deeping St James already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
The staff at The Co-operative, BP or any forecourt will normally help to push the car clear if you ask. If you are on your own drive in Deeping St James, leave the car where it sits.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Deeping St James sits under 10 miles from the Great North Road; there, take the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Deeping St James is smaller work than a run of under 10 miles towards Peterborough, and so say.
Our arrival in Deeping St James, and what occurs next
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Deeping St James Community Primary School, close to The Cross School or on your own driveway. What liquid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because the replies set both work and quote. The price comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: crystals form, some metals corrode, and none of it clears away on its own, no matter how long it is left. After your filter has been flushed — or renewed, if required — clean diesel goes in, and finally your vehicle is tested. The motor is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before our engineers go.
If the motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Deeping St James, for a moment
Deeping St James is a village in Lincolnshire, situated on the banks of the River Welland at an elevation of around 9 metres. Deeping St James lies approximately 7 miles from Peterborough and 81 miles from London, with nearby villages including Deeping Gate and Northborough. Deeping St James has a mix of housing types, but detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. Deeping St James is a small community with a population of around 994 residents.
AdBlue drains around Deeping St James and across Lincolnshire
Deeping St James is a village, and the teams that cover it also work the places around it, Frognall and Northborough among them, across the PE postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a PE6 8 postcode for the van.
No need to move the vehicle. Anywhere it sits — beside St James's Church, in a layby heading to Hereward Way Play Area, on a drive — that is where it gets drained. Tricky to pin down, like the back of The Deepings Methodist Church? Close to a county line? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
Deeping St James people: the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere across Lincolnshire.