Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hardings Wood: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your motor hasn't run, it is emptied and fully purged where your vehicle sits in Hardings Wood. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single fluid but two: that is what many modern diesels around Hardings Wood and Kidsgrove carry, with diesel for the engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have the two side by side behind one flap. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Hardings Wood: how it happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Liverpool Road East before work, or in the car park outside Red Bull on the way home.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Third, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as easily, and after the pour starts, no part stops it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Hardings Wood or out in Red Bull.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Clough Hall or a forecourt in Hardings Wood.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many cars show which goes in each inlet just there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Kidsgrove.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Wherever in Staffordshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Congleton Road South.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It seems silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went in the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Never go on to step five.
Hardings Wood: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Leave the ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts your fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the staff to help roll your car away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Tesco, the Sainsbury's or anywhere else. On your own drive around Hardings Wood? Then your car remains where it is.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next exit means the place to leave when you are on the M6, under 5 miles from Hardings Wood. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Hardings Wood is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles to Stoke-on-Trent, and so tell us.
Hardings Wood: what happens when our engineers turn up
By The Reginald Mitchell Primary School, near Congleton Road Community Centre or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because the replies determine the work and our price. On the phone call itself, you are told the price — before anything else.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, some metals corrode, and nothing clears away unaided, however long it is left. The filter cleaned or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your car. Before we go, we fire it up and confirm that it is running smoothly.
If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Hardings Wood and where it is
Hardings Wood is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Staffordshire, with an elevation of around 121 metres. Hardings Wood lies approximately 5.8 miles from Stoke-on-Trent and is part of the larger West Midlands region, about 141.6 miles from London. Hardings Wood is characterized by its semi-detached housing and is surrounded by nearby places such as Red Bull, Woodshutts, and Butt Lane. Hardings Wood has a population of around 2250 residents.
AdBlue drains across Staffordshire, Hardings Wood included
Being a residential suburb, Hardings Wood shares its vans nearby places — Woodshutts, Butt Lane — all the way across ST postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting ST7 3 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Flee Crows Plantation, a side street near The Baptist Church Butt Lane: we drain it where it is. Guessing won't help behind Kidsgrove Sports Centre, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
Hardings Wood people: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, wherever in Staffordshire: switch the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.