AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Gnosall: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Stop here for a moment if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Around Gnosall, finding it before your motor runs normally leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it happens and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that is how many newer diesels around Gnosall and Plardiwick run, with diesel feeding the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. Much less often, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Gnosall
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Audmore Road before work, or in the car park at The Horns on the way home.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, carries on. It's seconds, be it out in Hollies Common or right in the heart of Gnosall.
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 Cowley or a forecourt around Gnosall.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to the diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says where.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you pick up a rental or company car — at Stafford's car park, perhaps — not once the warning appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — anywhere you are across Staffordshire — a routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Sellman Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Finish once the tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, pour gently using the own spout.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and check again that the diesel cap never came off.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Step five stays out.
Gnosall: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the another forecourt nearby, ask the attendants to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Gnosall.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Gnosall lies under 5 miles from the M6; there, take the first exit. A short hop across Gnosall is a smaller job than a run towards Wolverhampton, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Gnosall: what occurs when we arrive
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Gnosall St Lawrence Coe Primary Academy, close to St Lawrence's Church or on your own drive. Those answers determine this work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. During the call itself, you are told the quote — before dispatch.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the fuel system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. That is why it matters more. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Gnosall and where it is
Gnosall is a village in Staffordshire, situated on the banks of the River Sow, with a mix of old and new buildings, including many detached homes. Gnosall sits at an elevation of around 102 metres, near to Hollies Common and Gnosall Heath, and is located approximately 14.7 miles from Wolverhampton. Gnosall has a population of around 2607 people, living in a variety of housing types, predominantly detached homes.
AdBlue drains around Gnosall and across Staffordshire
Gnosall is a village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Gnosall Heath and The Hollies among them, across the ST postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a ST20 0 postcode to our van.
No need to shift the vehicle. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Middle Covert, a side street close to Gnosall Memorial Village Hall: our technicians drain the car where it stands. Tricky to explain, like the back of Gnosall Methodist Church? Close to a county line? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
For Gnosall motorists, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around Staffordshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — so leave it off then call 0333 366 0103.