How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Elvington
Pause reading for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where the car stands around Elvington, is usually all it needs if caught before the engine runs. Here in advance? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of current diesels on the roads about Elvington and Wheldrake carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Other motors keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have the two together under one flap. Filling the diesel side at the pump happens all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Elvington: how it takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a drive off Church Lane before work, or in the car park at The Grey Horse on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: a strange vehicle.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, keeps on. It's seconds, be it in Sutton upon Derwent or right in the heart of Elvington.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Storwood or a forecourt in Elvington, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- On plenty of cars, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside York.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
For the day the warning appears — wherever it is in North Yorkshire — a routine to use.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Main Street.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have found the filler and read it.
- The two under a single flap? So make sure the lid on your diesel side stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and check again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Elvington?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. Keep your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — Esso, JET or another — the staff will usually help roll the vehicle clear, when you ask. At home around Elvington? Then the vehicle remains put.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction means the place to leave if you are on the M62, under 15 miles from Elvington. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Elvington makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to York — so say roughly how far it went.
When we turn up in Elvington, what takes place?
Outside Elvington Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, near Elvington Parish Hall or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Which fluid was put in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our technicians ask since those answers decide the work and price. No one sets off before you've heard our quote over the phone.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of it clears out on its own, no matter how long it sits. After your filter is cleaned — or replaced, if required — clean diesel is added, and then your car gets tested. Before we go, our engineers fire it up and make sure that it's running properly.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run need roughly half an hour once our technicians are there. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Elvington itself
Elvington is a village situated on the banks of the River Derwent in North Yorkshire, with a low elevation of around 10 metres. Elvington lies approximately 6.7 miles from the city of York, and is surrounded by nearby villages such as Sutton upon Derwent and Newton upon Derwent. Elvington has a population of around 887 residents, who mostly live in detached housing. Elvington is located near the intersection of the riverside and the surrounding countryside, making it a unique rural community.
AdBlue drains around Elvington, and North Yorkshire beyond
Throughout YO postcodes, our teams covering Elvington — a village — work the surrounding places too, Kexby and Newton upon Derwent among them. Give a postcode that starts YO41 4, and the van arrives fastest.
There's no need to shift the car. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a street near Holy Trinity, or a lay-by towards Camp Copse. Tricky to pin down, like the back of The Church of St. Michael and All Angels? Close to a county line? Checking beats guessing, and so phone.
For Elvington people, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere in North Yorkshire.