Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fishburn: Why It Happens
Pause here for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your engine hasn't turned, it's emptied and thoroughly flushed where the car sits around Fishburn. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your engine — but plenty of modern diesels driven around Fishburn and Sedgefield carry another fluid too. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of cars 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 pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. That gap is where the error lives.
Fishburn: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
On a drive off Salter's Lane before work, or in the car park at The Beehive on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is the second thing: an unfamiliar car.
Lastly, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and once the pour begins, no part stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Fishburn or out in Trimdon.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Trimdon Grange or a forecourt in Fishburn, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it is if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Horden.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever in Durham the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Front Street.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have located your filler and read it.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly using the built-in spout.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Fishburn?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the car away from the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Sainsbury's, the North End Garage or anywhere else. Your own drive around Fishburn is where it stays.
When your engine has been run already, pull over somewhere safe then turn the car off. On the A1(M), under 3 miles from Fishburn, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Fishburn is less work than a run of under 10 miles to Durham, so tell us.
Fishburn: what happens when our engineers turn up
Wherever your car came to rest, whether by Fishburn Primary School, beside Fishburn Community Centre or at home, our van travels to it. Our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because those answers decide the work and the price. The price is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Draining that tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, certain metals corrode, and none of it washes out on its own, no matter how long it is left. After your filter is cleaned — or replaced, where required — clean diesel is added, and then the car is tested. The engine is started next and tested to confirm it runs correctly, all before we go.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine has not run need about half an hour after our technicians are there. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. It's worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Fishburn itself
Fishburn is a village in County Durham, situated inland at an elevation of 117 metres, approximately 8.8 miles from the city of Durham. Fishburn has a population of around 2387 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Fishburn is located near other villages such as Trimdon, Butterwick, and Bishop Middleham, in the North East region of England. Fishburn is about 226 miles north of London.
AdBlue drains across Durham, Fishburn included
Butterwick and Bishop Middleham are among the places around Fishburn, a rural village, that the same vans cover, throughout TS postcodes. Quote a postcode that starts TS21 4, and the van gets there quickest.
The car doesn't need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Fishburn Grassland SSSI, a side street close to Fishburn Youth Centre: our engineers drain the car where it stands. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St Catherine? Close to a border? Checking beats guessing, so phone.
The short version for Fishburn people
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere in Durham.