AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Denby Bottles: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, leave the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where the car sits around Denby Bottles, is normally what it takes if caught before the motor runs. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many current diesels on the roads about Denby Bottles and Kilburn carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both side by side under one flap. Diesel goes in on every filling station call-out, again and again. Much less often, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Denby Bottles: how it happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Brookvale Avenue before work, or in the car park at The Hunters Arms on the way home.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as readily, and once the tip begins, nothing halts it. Rawson Green or the heart of Denby Bottles: it is the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Street Lane or a forecourt in Denby Bottles.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel inlet? Then check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Belper.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Derbyshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Brookvale Road.
- 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 sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Stage five stays off limits.
Denby Bottles: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at JET, Morrisons or another forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the vehicle away when you ask. On your own drive in Denby Bottles? So the vehicle remains where it is.
Already run? Pull over when it is sensible, then turn off. The next junction means the place to leave if you are on the M1, under 10 miles from Denby Bottles. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Derby, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Denby Bottles.
When our engineers get there in Denby Bottles, what happens?
Our van reaches the vehicle wherever it stopped — your own drive, beside Kilburn Methodist Church, or outside Kilburn Junior School. We ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run, since those replies settle the work and the price. During the call itself, you are told our price — before dispatch.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, after the tank is drained. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of the car. We don't go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine hasn't run take about half an hour after we arrive. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Denby Bottles, for a moment
Denby Bottles is a village in Derbyshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 81 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Denby Bottles lies approximately 6.6 miles from Derby and 117.9 miles from London, making it a relatively accessible rural community. Denby Bottles is surrounded by other small settlements, including Rawson Green, Cinderhill, and Smithy Houses, and has a population of around 1335 residents.
AdBlue drains round Denby Bottles, and Derbyshire beyond
Cinderhill and Smithy Houses are among the places around Denby Bottles, a village, that the same vans cover, over DE postcodes. A postcode starting DE5 8 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car stays put. The drain happens right there, whether a driveway, a street by Kilburn War Memorial, or a layby on the way to Denby Institute and Recreation Ground. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Kilburn Baptist Church? Close to a border? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
Denby Bottles motorists: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, wherever in Derbyshire: keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103.