Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Great Burdon
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your engine has not turned, it is emptied and thoroughly purged where your car is around Great Burdon. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the engine — yet plenty of current diesels driven round Great Burdon and Barmpton carry another liquid too. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to clean them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Plenty of motors have a single flap for both, while some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each filling station visit, week in, week out. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what filler it needs. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Great Burdon
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off Riverside Drive before work, or in the car park outside Highland Laddie on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Great Burdon or out in Haughton le Skerne.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Albert Hill or a forecourt in Great Burdon, 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 name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it beside the diesel filler? Then check beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you collect a rental or company car — from North Road's car park, perhaps — not once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever around Durham the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Turnpike Close, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — confirm the diesel filler remained shut throughout. After that, start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Stage five is out.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Great Burdon already?
Don't start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
At a forecourt — Asda, Shell or another — the attendants will usually help push your car clear, if you ask. Your own drive in Great Burdon is the place it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. Leave the A1(M) — under 5 miles out of Great Burdon — at the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Great Burdon is smaller work than a run of under 25 miles towards Durham, so say.
When our engineers turn up in Great Burdon, what takes place?
By Whinfield Primary School, close to St Anne's (RC) Church or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Those replies determine this work and the price, and so we ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. No one heads out until you've had the quote by phone.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of it clears out on its own, no matter how long it sits. A test comes last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. Before leaving, our engineers fire it up and check that it is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we arrive, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Great Burdon, for a moment
Great Burdon is a suburban area situated on the riverside in County Durham, with a mix of detached housing and a population of around 2190 residents. Great Burdon lies near the villages of Haughton le Skerne and Whinfield, and is approximately 16 miles from the city of Durham. Great Burdon's elevation is around 48 metres above sea level, and it is located in a scenic area near the River Tees. Great Burdon is also within commuting distance of larger cities, being around 217 miles from London.
AdBlue drains round Great Burdon, and Durham beyond
Being a residential suburb, Great Burdon shares its vans nearby areas — Whinfield, Red Hall — right through DL postcodes and the wider area beyond. Fastest of all: give a DL1 3 postcode to our van.
Shifting your car isn't needed. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Great Burdon Village Green, a side street near Haughton Methodist Church: our engineers drain the vehicle where it stands. Assuming won't help behind St Andrew's Church, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
In short, for Great Burdon drivers
First, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere in Durham.