Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Gateford
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. In Gateford, finding it before your engine turns normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. 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.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels in Rhodesia, like those in Gateford, carry on two liquids; the motor gets only your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
There's a filler on each tank. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
Gateford: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Haste comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Gateford Road, or on the way home in the car park at Roman's Rest.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
No part halts the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Gateford or out in Gateford Common.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Shireoaks or a forecourt in Gateford.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- Many cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many vehicles mark which belongs in each inlet just there.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Worksop's car park, say — rather than once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere around Nottinghamshire, follow this routine.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, motor off, and never rushed by Ashes Park Avenue at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- Both behind a single flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel filler stays closed before raising the bottle.
- Finish once your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly using its own spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Gateford?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Tesco, the Asda or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Gateford.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction means where to come off when you're on the Doncaster By-Pass, under 10 miles from Gateford. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Gateford is smaller work than a run of under 15 miles towards Doncaster, and so say.
Our arrival in Gateford, and what takes place next
Wherever the car came to rest, whether outside Gateford Park Primary School, near Woodlands View Point or on your own drive, the van comes to it. The answers settle the work and the quote, so our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run. That quote is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Then the tank is drained and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of it clears away unaided, no matter how long it sits. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. The engine is started next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after we get there, as long as your motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It's worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Gateford
Gateford is a suburban area in Nottinghamshire, situated inland at an elevation of 54 metres, with Gateford Common nearby. Gateford has a population of around 5694 people, predominantly living in detached housing. Gateford is located near other local places, including Woodhouse and Sunnyside, and is approximately 13.5 miles from Doncaster. Gateford is also around 132.7 miles from London, making it a relatively accessible location.
AdBlue drains across Nottinghamshire, Gateford included
Being a residential suburb, Gateford has the same vans as surrounding places — Woodhouse, Sunnyside — right across S postcodes and the wider area around them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting S81 8.
There's no need to move your car. Anywhere it stands — beside Christ Church, Worksop, in a lay-by en route to Whipman Wood, on a drive — that is where it gets drained. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Thievesdale Community Centre, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The short version for Gateford motorists
First, the cap; then, the pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, wherever across Nottinghamshire: keep the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.