--- title: Explained: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank Easington canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/easington-durham/ location: Easington county: Durham latitude: 54.785390 longitude: -1.352290 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-08 --- # How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Easington AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where your car stands around Easington, is usually all it takes when caught before the motor runs. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened. ## AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers Many newer diesels on the roads about Easington and Sandy Carrs carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes. Every tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It is in the gap that the slip happens. ## How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Easington? Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide. On a drive off Thorpe Road before work, or in the car park outside The Half Moon heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and if it is empty, limp mode follows. Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — since a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not. 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. Little Thorpe or the heart of Easington: it takes the same few seconds either way. ## Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel? A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Peterlee or a forecourt in Easington. - Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't. - The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two. - The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where. - The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook 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 at Horden. ## Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Durham that is. - Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside Seaside Lane on the verge. - Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works. - Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle. - Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty. - Before starting the car, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap was never came off. If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five. ## Easington: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank? What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it. Ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the BP, the Shell or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Easington. Where your motor has run by now, pull over safely then switch the car off. Leave the A1(M) — under 10 miles out of Easington — at the first exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Sunderland, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Easington. ## Our arrival in Easington, and what takes place next Wherever the car has stopped, whether by Easington CofE Primary School, beside Easington Village Methodist Church or at home, our van travels to it. Which fluid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: we ask because those replies set the work and quote. Nobody heads out before you've heard our quote over the phone. The system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is drained. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and nothing clears out unaided, however long it is left. After the fuel filter is flushed — or replaced, if required — clean diesel goes in, and then the car gets tested. Then our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before leaving. With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor hasn't run need roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way. ## About Easington Easington is a village in County Durham, situated on the coast of north-east England, approximately 8 miles east of Sunderland. Easington sits at an elevation of around 120 metres, overlooking the North Sea, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Little Thorpe and Easington Colliery. Easington has a population of around 2043 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Easington is located about 232 miles north of London, making it a relatively remote coastal community. ## Easington and Durham: AdBlue drains across the area Being a coastal village, Easington has the same vans as surrounding areas — Easington Colliery, Hawthorn — all the way across SR postcodes and the wider area around them. Quickest of all: quote a SR8 3 postcode to our van. Your car does not need to shift. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near St Mary the Virgin, a lay-by on the way to Easington Local Nature Reserve, a driveway. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Easington Colliery Library, ring and ask rather than guessing. ## Easington drivers: the short version Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Durham, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.