AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ebchester: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
Pause reading a minute when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the motor has not run, it's drained and fully purged where your vehicle is in Ebchester. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the reasons it takes place and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds the motor — yet many current diesels driven round Ebchester and High Westwood carry a second liquid as well. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Other vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have both side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think what filler to use. It is in that gap that the error lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Ebchester: how it takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Shaw Lane, or at Derwent Walk Inn on the way home after work.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as readily, and once the pour begins, nothing stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Ebchester or out in Broom Hill.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Low Westwood or a forecourt in Ebchester, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On plenty of motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Stocksfield's car park, say — not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere in Durham the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Front Street.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you have located the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and check again that your diesel cap never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Ebchester?
Short list, then. First: your motor stays off. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than mixing — and that's where your fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — Esso, Tesco or any other — the attendants will usually help push the vehicle clear, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Ebchester.
When the motor has been run already, pull over somewhere safe and switch it off. The next junction means where to come off if you're on the Central Motorway East, under 15 miles from Ebchester. A short hop across Ebchester is a smaller job than a run towards Newcastle upon Tyne, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Ebchester, and what takes place next
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, be it by Ebchester CofE Primary School, beside St Ebba's or at home, the van travels to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because those answers settle this work and our price. No one sets off before you've had our quote by phone.
The system is then purged thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears away by itself. That is why it matters more. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We don't go until it has been started and is running correctly.
Unrun vehicles usually need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Ebchester itself
Ebchester is a village situated on the banks of the River Derwent in County Durham, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Ebchester sits at an elevation of around 98 metres, near the villages of Broom Hill and Newlands. Ebchester is located approximately 10.8 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne, making it a commuter base for the city. Ebchester has a population of around 853 people, living in a range of housing types, predominantly semi-detached homes.
AdBlue drains across Durham, Ebchester included
Newlands and East Law are among the places around Ebchester, a village, that the same teams cover, throughout DH postcodes. Give a postcode that starts DH8 0, and the van arrives fastest.
Shifting your car is not needed. Draining happens right there, whether a drive, a street near Ebchester Community Centre, or a layby on the way to Hill Bank Wood. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Vindomora, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Ebchester people, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere around Durham.