Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fairleigh: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Fairleigh. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel feeds your motor — yet plenty of current diesels driven round Fairleigh and Arbourthorne hold another liquid too. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think which filler to use. That gap is where the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Fairleigh?
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle 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 drive off Leonard Close before work, or in the car park at The Punch Bowl on the way home.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. It takes seconds, whether out in Elm Tree Hill or bang in the heart of Fairleigh.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Common Side or a forecourt in Fairleigh.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Darnall? Check with whoever drove it last before you set off, rather than when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere across South Yorkshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Windy House Lane, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- The two under a single flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel filler stays shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Step five stays out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Fairleigh?
Don't start your engine: that is how the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so leave it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The attendants at Asda, City Road Service Station or any forecourt will normally help to push the vehicle clear if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Fairleigh.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M1, under 5 miles from Fairleigh, that means the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Sheffield, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Fairleigh.
Fairleigh: what occurs when we turn up
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Prince Edward Primary School, near Leaves or on your own drive. Both the work and our quote rest on three answers — which liquid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so we ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The motor is started next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our engineers leave.
Unrun vehicles usually need a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Fairleigh itself
Fairleigh is a suburban area situated on the outskirts of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, at an elevation of 201 metres. Fairleigh lies approximately 2.1 miles from the city centre, within a short distance of nearby places such as Elm Tree Hill and Woodthorpe Estate. Fairleigh is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the typical residential development patterns of the region. Fairleigh is also relatively close to the Peak District National Park, while being 139.5 miles from London.
Fairleigh and South Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Deep Pit and Woodthorpe Estate are among the towns near Fairleigh, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout S postcodes. Give a postcode that starts S2 1, and the van arrives quickest.
There's no need to move your car. We drain it where it is — a side street close to De Hood Boxing Gym, a lay-by on the way to Windy House Lane Pocket Park, a driveway. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of St Swithun.
In short, for Fairleigh motorists
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the vehicle switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout South Yorkshire.