Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Far Cotton: Why It Happens
Leave the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Around Far Cotton, catching it before the engine runs normally leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that is how many newer diesels near Far Cotton and Camp Hill run, with diesel feeding the engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
Different tanks, different fillers. Many of motors share a single flap for the two, while others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
Far Cotton: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and running out means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Delapre Street, perhaps at Far Cotton Wmc on the way home that evening.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and once the tip begins, no part stops it. It takes a few seconds, whether in Briar Hill or right in the centre of Far Cotton.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Far Cotton forecourt or a drive over in Northampton, spend a couple of seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- On many vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Northampton, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere across Northamptonshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor off, and not rushed beside Towcester Road on the verge.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've found the filler and read it.
- Both under a single flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel side is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Stage five stays out.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Far Cotton?
Don't start your motor: that's how the short order of things starts. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the JET, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the pump. On your own drive around Far Cotton? So the vehicle stays where it is.
Already started? Pull over when it is safe, then turn off. Far Cotton sits under 3 miles from the M1; there, use the first junction. A short hop across Far Cotton is a smaller job than a run towards Milton Keynes, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians arrive around Far Cotton, what occurs?
By Delapre Primary School, close to St Mary's Church or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. The answers determine this work and the price, and so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run. The price is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and nothing washes away unaided, however long it is left. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before leaving, our engineers start it and make sure that it's running properly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine hasn't run need roughly half an hour once our technicians are there. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Far Cotton
Far Cotton is a suburban area in Northamptonshire, situated on the banks of the River Nene at an elevation of around 66 metres. Far Cotton lies within the East Midlands region, approximately 59 miles northwest of London, and is close to nearby neighbourhoods such as Briar Hill and St Jamess End. Far Cotton has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterized by terraced homes. Far Cotton is also near the larger town of Merefield and the city of Milton Keynes, which is about 14 miles away.
Far Cotton and Northamptonshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Far Cotton is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, St Jamess End and Merefield among them, across the NN postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a NN4 8 postcode for our van.
Moving your car isn't necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Far Cotton Recreation Ground, a side street close to The Rec Centre: we drain the car where it is. Assuming won't help at the back of Delapre Community Rooms, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and check.
Far Cotton drivers: the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the car switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Northamptonshire.