AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ford Green: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, keep your ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine has not run, it's emptied and thoroughly flushed where your car sits in Ford Green. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel goes to the motor — but many newer diesels seen around Ford Green and Norton Green carry another liquid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think what filler it needs. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen in Ford Green?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a drive off Tudor Rose Way before work, or in the car park outside Robin Hood heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar motors are next, as well. Hire cars, new cars and company motors place their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, carries on. Norton-in-the-Moors or the middle of Ford Green: it takes the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Ford Green forecourt or a driveway over in Cornhill, spend a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it is if your filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check when you pick up a rental or company car — at Longport's car park, perhaps — rather than once the warning appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Staffordshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Ford Green Road, not on a slope, not with the motor 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.
- Both behind one flap? Then confirm the cap on your diesel side is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Leave out stage five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Ford Green?
Do not start the 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 car on. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the base rather than blending — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the BP, ask the attendants to help push your car away from the pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Ford Green.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Leave the M6 — under 10 miles out of Ford Green — at the first exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Stoke-on-Trent, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Ford Green.
When our technicians arrive in Ford Green, what happens?
By St Marys Catholic Academy, close to St Mary or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what fluid, what quantity, and whether it has run — so we ask. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. Hence it matters more. After your filter is flushed — or renewed, if needed — fresh diesel is added, and then the vehicle is tested. Before we leave, our engineers start the car and confirm that it's running properly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive, as long as your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Ford Green, for a moment
Ford Green is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, situated near the River Trent at an elevation of 138 metres. Ford Green sits close to several nearby places, including Norton-in-the-Moors, Bradeley, and Smallthorne, and is about 2.3 miles from Stoke-on-Trent. Ford Green has a population of approximately 5551 people and is characterised by predominantly semi-detached housing. Ford Green is also relatively distant from London, at around 137.4 miles away.
AdBlue drains in Ford Green and across Staffordshire
Throughout ST postcodes, the vans that cover Ford Green — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Smallthorne and Bradeley included. Quickest of all: quote a ST6 8 postcode for the van.
Moving the car is not needed. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Ford Green Hall, a lay-by on the way to Norton Cricket Club & Miners Welfare Institute, a drive. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Smallthorne Community Centre? By a border? Checking beats guessing, and so phone.
For Ford Green drivers, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, wherever around Staffordshire: switch it off then ring 0333 366 0103.