Ellenborough: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Leave the motor and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the engine runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Ellenborough. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel feeds the motor — but plenty of modern diesels driven about Ellenborough and Maryport carry a second fluid as well. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from its own tank.
Each tank has one filler of its own. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which filler it needs. The mistake lives in that gap.
Ellenborough: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Main Street before work, or in the car park outside Swan Inn on the way home.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and once the tip starts, nothing halts it. Whether it happens in Ewanrigg or the middle of Ellenborough, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Check these first, at a forecourt in Ellenborough or a driveway out in Glasson. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- The handbook shows which it lives if your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Maryport, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere around Cumbria, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Pecklewell Lane, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Leave out step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Ellenborough?
Brief list, then. Top of that: your engine stays unstarted. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the Essex Garage, ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Ellenborough.
Already run? Pull over when it is safe, then switch off. Ellenborough lies under 50 miles from the M6; there, use the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Carlisle, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Ellenborough.
Our arrival in Ellenborough, and what happens next
Wherever the car came to rest, whether outside Ellenborough Academy, beside Elenborough Methodist or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Both the work and the price rest on three answers — which liquid, what amount, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. Nobody sets off until you've had the price by phone.
Then your tank is drained and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before leaving, we start the engine and confirm that it is running correctly.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Ellenborough and where it is
Ellenborough is a suburban area located on the coast of Cumbria, with an elevation of 43 metres above sea level. Ellenborough sits near the towns of Ewanrigg, Netherton, and Kirkborough, and is approximately 25 miles from the city of Carlisle. Ellenborough has a population of around 4791 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Ellenborough is also situated relatively far from London, at a distance of 261 miles.
AdBlue drains in Ellenborough and across Cumbria
Being a residential suburb, Ellenborough has the same vans as surrounding areas — Netherton, Kirkborough — right through CA postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Fastest of all: give a CA15 7 postcode for the van.
There's no need to shift your car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Maryport (Millennium Green), a side street near All Souls' Church: our technicians drain it where it sits. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Maryport Library.
The short version for Ellenborough drivers
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Cumbria, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103.