AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Harrowgate Village: How It Happens and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, carried out right where your car stands in Harrowgate Village, is usually all it takes if caught before your engine runs. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it does not — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels in Whessoe, as well as Harrowgate Village, carry on two liquids; your engine gets only your diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place both side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
Harrowgate Village: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
On a drive off Camborne Drive before work, or in the car park outside White Horse heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it is empty, limp mode follows.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new car 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.
Nothing halts the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, whether in Harrowgate Hill or bang in the centre of Harrowgate Village.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Rise Carr or a forecourt in Harrowgate Village.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On many motors, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to your diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside North Road? Check with whoever drove the car last before leaving, rather than once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, anywhere around Durham, follow this routine.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, motor stopped, and never rushed beside Polperro Grove on the verge.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've located the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Stop when that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Discover at the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Do not go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Harrowgate Village already?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — and 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 do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Morrisons, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Harrowgate Village.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. On the A1(M), under 3 miles from Harrowgate Village, that means the next junction. A short hop across Harrowgate Village is a smaller job than a run towards Durham, under 25 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Harrowgate Village: what occurs when our technicians arrive
Anywhere your car has stopped, be it by Harrowgate Hill Primary School, beside Whessoe Parish Hall or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — which fluid, what quantity, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. During the call itself, you hear the price — ahead of anything else.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. Hence it matters more. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Before we go, our engineers start the engine and check that it's running smoothly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor hasn't run need roughly half an hour once our engineers are there. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About Harrowgate Village
Harrowgate Village is a suburban area in County Durham, situated inland at an elevation of 67 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Harrowgate Village lies approximately 15 miles from the city of Durham and is surrounded by nearby places such as Harrowgate Hill, Drinkfield, and Beaumont Hill. Harrowgate Village has a population of around 4274 residents and is located about 218 miles north of London.
Harrowgate Village and Durham: AdBlue drains across the area
Harrowgate Village is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Drinkfield and Beaumont Hill among them, across the DL postcode area. A postcode starting DL3 0 gets the van to you fastest.
The car stays put. Wherever it stands — beside Drinkfield Marsh Nature Reserve, on a lay-by en route to Drinkfield Marsh Nature Reserve, at home — that's where it is cleared. Assuming doesn't help behind St Mark's Church, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to describe; phone and check.
Harrowgate Village people: the short version
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Durham.