Fulford: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Leave the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before your motor runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Fulford. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many modern diesels around Crockey Hill, as well as Fulford, run on two fluids; your engine gets only the diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler for each tank. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both together behind one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Fulford: how it occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a drive off Naburn Lane before work, or in the car park outside The Plough Inn heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
New-to-you motors come second, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors put their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it 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 easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it happens in Middlethorpe or the middle of Fulford, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Fulford forecourt or a driveway over in South Bank, spend a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook says which it lives if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside York? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever around North Yorkshire, use this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Selby Road.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Fulford?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that's where your fuel is sucked from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Applegreen or the Tesco, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Fulford.
Where the motor has run by now, stop somewhere safe and turn the car off. Fulford lies under 15 miles from the A1(M); on it, use the first junction. A short hop across Fulford is a smaller job than a run towards York, under 3 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
What happens when our technicians turn up around Fulford
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St Oswald's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, close to Battle of Fulford or on your own driveway. What fluid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because those replies set both work and price. No one heads out until you've had our price by phone.
Then the tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Your engine is fired up next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our engineers get there, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Fulford
Fulford is a suburban area located on the outskirts of York, near the River Ouse, with a relatively low elevation of 12 metres. Fulford sits close to several nearby places, including Middlethorpe, Bishopthorpe, and Walmgate Stray, and is characterised by its semi-detached housing. Fulford is situated approximately 2.4 miles from York city centre, making it a popular residential area. Fulford has a population of around 1100 people, who enjoy its riverside setting and proximity to the city.
Fulford and North Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Fulford has the same vans as surrounding places — Bishopthorpe, Walmgate Stray — right through YO postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Fastest of all: quote a YO19 4 postcode to our van.
No need to move the car. The drain takes place right there, whether a drive, a road by Diamond Jubilee, or a layby towards Fulford Parish Council Playing Field. Assuming won't help behind York Designer Outlet, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
In short, for Fulford people
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across North Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.