Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Doncaster
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your motor hasn't run, it's drained and thoroughly flushed where your vehicle sits in Doncaster. Not happened yet? Below, the page covers the reasons it takes place and the ways to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Not one liquid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels around Doncaster and Hexthorpe run, with diesel feeding the motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray cleans the gas.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
Doncaster: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Cleveland Street, perhaps at Biscuit Billys on the way home after work.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing stops the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Hyde Park or the middle of Doncaster: it is the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Newton or a forecourt in Doncaster, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at the nearest station? Check with the person who drove the car last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across South Yorkshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Hall Gate, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift 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, shut the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Stage five is off limits.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Doncaster already?
Short list, then. Top of that: your motor stays off. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the Applegreen, ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. On your own drive in Doncaster? Then the vehicle stays put.
Where your engine has run by now, pull over somewhere safe and turn it off. The next junction is where to come off if you're on the A1(M), under 3 miles from Doncaster. Mileage matters — a short hop across Doncaster makes a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Sheffield — so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our technicians arrive around Doncaster
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Atlas Academy, close to Unitarian and Free Christian Church or on your own driveway. Both the work and our price rest on three replies — which liquid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
The fuel system is then rinsed thoroughly, once your tank is emptied. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and nothing washes out on its own, however long it sits. The filter cleaned or, if needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of your vehicle. Before leaving, our technicians start the car and make sure that it is running properly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our technicians arrive, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Doncaster
Doncaster is a city located in the county of South Yorkshire, England, and is situated on the banks of the River Don. It serves as a key administrative hub for the surrounding area and is known for its rich history in transport and sports. The city's scenic riverside setting is nestled in the Don Valley, near the foothills of the Pennines. Doncaster's heritage is characterised by its significant role in the development of railways and horse racing.
AdBlue drains around Doncaster, and South Yorkshire beyond
Throughout DN postcodes, the vans that cover Doncaster — a city — work the nearby places too, Belle Vue and Wheatley among them. A postcode starting DN1 1 gets the van to you fastest.
Your car doesn't need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Elmfield Park, a side street near Outdoor Market: our technicians drain the car where it stands. Tricky to explain, like the back of Lazarus Court? By a border? Checking beats guessing, so phone.
For Doncaster drivers, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the car switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across South Yorkshire.