AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hanstubbin: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where the car stands in Hanstubbin, is usually all it takes when caught before your engine runs. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your motor — but many current diesels seen round Hanstubbin and Selston Common carry a second fluid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler on every tank. On a lot of motors 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 filled at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
Hanstubbin: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and running out leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Hanstubbin Road, or at White Lion on the way home that evening.
New-to-you cars come second, as well. Rentals, new cars and company cars put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as easily, and after the pour begins, no part halts it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Hanstubbin or out in Allens Green.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Hanstubbin forecourt or a driveway out in Woodnook, spend a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you collect a hire car or fleet car — from Kirkby in Ashfield's car park, perhaps — rather than when the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is around Nottinghamshire — a routine to follow.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Salstune Mews.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found your filler and read it.
- Both behind one flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel side is still shut before raising the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start your car, shut the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hanstubbin already?
Brief order, then. First: the engine stays off. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
The staff at the nearest petrol station, Gulf or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car clear when you ask. Your own drive around Hanstubbin is where it stays.
Already run? Stop when it's safe, then turn off. On the M1, under a mile from Hanstubbin, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Hanstubbin is smaller a job than a run of under 15 miles towards Nottingham, so say.
Hanstubbin: what takes place when we arrive
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Selston Church of England Infant and Nursery School, close to Selston Leisure Centre or on your own drive. Which liquid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since those replies set both work and price. No one heads out until you've had our quote over the phone.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after the tank is drained. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. That is why it counts more. A test comes last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. Before we go, we fire it up and confirm that it's running smoothly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once we arrive, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Hanstubbin and where it is
Hanstubbin is a suburban area in Nottinghamshire, situated approximately 10 miles from Nottingham and 119 metres above sea level. Hanstubbin sits in a gently rolling landscape, with nearby places including Allens Green, Inkerman, and Alma. Hanstubbin has a population of around 2712 people, predominantly living in detached housing.
AdBlue drains in Hanstubbin and across Nottinghamshire
Throughout NG postcodes, the vans covering Hanstubbin — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Alma and Inkerman among them. Quote a postcode that starts NG16 6, and our van gets there fastest.
Your car does not need to move. Wherever it stands — beside Selston Community Partnership Library, in a layby heading to Selston Town Football Club & Selston Town Cricket Club, at home — that is where it is emptied. Awkward to explain, like the back of Tin Hat Centre? Close to a county line? Checking beats guessing, and so phone.
Hanstubbin people: the short version
Pour no AdBlue until you have read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it stands, wherever around Nottinghamshire: keep the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.