How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Easington
Stop reading for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Easington. Here in advance? In that case what follows explains why it happens and what to prevent it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
No single fluid but two: that's how many modern diesels near Easington and Bodicote carry, with diesel for your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas to clean it.
There's a filler for every tank. Many of motors have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which cap to use. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens in Easington
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Horton View before work, or in the car park outside The Easington on the way home.
Unfamiliar vehicles come second, too. Hire cars, new cars and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes seconds, be it out in Calthorpe or right in the centre of Easington.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Whether a Easington forecourt or a drive out in Ruscote, spend a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors mark what goes in each inlet right there.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Banbury? Ask the person who drove the car last before leaving, not once the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Anywhere in Oxfordshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of St Hughs Close.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located the filler and read the cap.
- 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 is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Skip stage five entirely.
Easington: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief list, then. First: your engine stays off. Leave the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it alone runs your fuel pump. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Sainsbury's, Shell or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car clear if you ask. If you are on your own drive in Easington, leave the car where it stands.
Already started? Pull over once it's sensible, then turn off. On the M40, under 3 miles from Easington, that means the next junction. A short hop across Easington is a smaller job than a run towards Oxford, under 25 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Easington, and what takes place next
By Harriers Banbury Academy, close to Saint Hugh or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — which liquid, what amount, and if it's run — so we ask. You get that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Draining the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. A test comes last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed as needed. Then we fire it up and confirm it runs smoothly before we go.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Easington
Easington is a suburban area in Oxfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of 131 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Easington lies approximately 21 miles from Oxford and 64 miles from London, placing it within commuting distance of both cities. Easington is surrounded by nearby places such as Calthorpe, Banbury, and Neithrop, and has a population of around 3260 residents. Easington forms a distinct community within the wider Oxfordshire area.
AdBlue drains across Oxfordshire, Easington included
Easington is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the places around it, Banbury and Neithrop among them, across the OX postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a OX16 9 postcode to the van.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. Anywhere it stands — near Horton Library, on a lay-by heading to Easington Park, on a drive — that's where it is drained. Guessing won't help at the back of Chapel, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
The short version for Easington motorists
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around Oxfordshire.