Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hartshill
Keep the engine and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Usually, if the engine hasn't turned, it's emptied and fully cleaned where your vehicle is around Hartshill. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Not one fluid but two: that's what many newer diesels near Hartshill and Springfields carry, with diesel feeding your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place in Hartshill?
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a driveway off Queen's Road before work, or in the car park at Robin Hood on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and once the tip begins, no part stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Hartshill or out in Penkhull.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Boothen or a forecourt in Hartshill.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check as you collect a rental or company car — from Stoke-On-Trent's car park, say — rather than once the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — wherever you are across Staffordshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Thornburrow Drive.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Hartshill?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so leave it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The attendants at Esso, Sainsbury's or any forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the car away when you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Hartshill.
Where your motor has run already, stop somewhere safe and turn the car off. Come off the M6 — under 3 miles out of Hartshill — at the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Stoke-on-Trent, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Hartshill.
What occurs when we get there around Hartshill
Anywhere the car came to rest, whether by The Willows Primary School, near Holy Trinity Church or at home, the van comes to it. Those replies determine the work and our price, so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it has run. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining that tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of that clears away unaided, no matter how long it sits. Filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. The motor is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs correctly, all before our technicians go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our technicians get there, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It's worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Hartshill itself
Hartshill is a suburban area situated on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, with Hartshill occupying a riverside location near the River Trent. Hartshill sits at an elevation of around 153 metres, close to nearby places such as Penkhull and Cliff Vale. Hartshill is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting the area's history of development in the region. Hartshill is located approximately 1.6 miles from Stoke-on-Trent city centre, making it a convenient residential area.
Hartshill and Staffordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Hartshill shares its vans surrounding areas — Cliff Vale, Stoke-upon-Trent — right across ST postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Give a postcode that starts ST4 7, and our van gets there quickest.
Moving the vehicle is not needed. Draining takes place right there, whether a driveway, a street near Coroner's Court and Chambers, or a layby on the way to Hartshill Park. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Saint Thomas' Church.
In short, for Hartshill drivers
Pour nothing till you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Staffordshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave it off and call 0333 366 0103.