Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Findern: Why It Occurs
Stop reading a minute when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Findern, finding it before the engine runs normally leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. Reading before the event? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels around Burnaston, as well as Findern, run on two fluids; the motor gets just the diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler on each tank. Plenty of cars share a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Findern: how it occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car 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 the pub in the village on the way home.
New-to-you vehicles come second, too. Hire cars, new motors and company motors put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
No part halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Stenson or the middle of Findern, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Etwall Common or a forecourt around Findern, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is if the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask as you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from Willington's car park, perhaps — not once the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Derbyshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Heath Lane, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop when the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the 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 your diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Findern: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Shell, the BP or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Findern.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M1, under 10 miles from Findern, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Findern is smaller a job than a trip of under 5 miles to Derby, and so say.
What takes place when we arrive around Findern
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Findern Primary School, close to Findern Village Hall or on your own drive. The answers determine the work and our quote, so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, after the tank is drained. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears out unaided. That is why it matters more. Testing comes last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Before we leave, our technicians fire it up and confirm that it is running correctly.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Findern, for a moment
Findern is a village in Derbyshire, situated on the banks of the River Trent at an elevation of 57 metres. Findern lies approximately 4.7 miles south of Derby and is surrounded by nearby places such as Stenson, Willington, and Twyford. Findern has a population of around 1238 people and predominantly consists of detached housing. Findern is located in the East Midlands region, about 111.6 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains around Findern and across Derbyshire
Being a village, Findern shares its vans surrounding areas — Willington, Twyford — right through DE postcodes and the surrounding area around them. A postcode starting DE65 6 gets our van to you fastest.
The car stays put. Anywhere it stands — beside Findern Village Sign, in a layby heading to King George V Playing Field, at home — that is where it gets drained. Tricky to pin down, like the back of All Saints? By a county line? Checking is better than guessing, so phone.
The short version for Findern motorists
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it stands, anywhere in Derbyshire: keep the car off and call 0333 366 0103.