How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hathern
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your engine hasn't turned, it's emptied and fully purged where the vehicle sits in Hathern. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the why it occurs and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Many newer diesels on the roads round Hathern and Sutton Bonington carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Other cars put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have the two together under one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
Hathern: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Church Street before work, or in the car park outside Hathern Club on the way home.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after started, keeps on. Whether it occurs in Zouch or the middle of Hathern, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Long Whatton or a forecourt in Hathern, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Plenty of motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — plenty of cars mark which belongs in which filler right there.
- The handbook says which it lives if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver will know. Ask as you collect a hire car or fleet car — from Loughborough's car park, perhaps — not once the warning appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever in Leicestershire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Cross Street, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It seems silly. It works.
- Both under a single flap? So make sure the lid on your diesel filler is still shut before raising the bottle.
- Finish when the tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently using the own spout.
- Close the cap, and look once more — confirm the diesel cap stayed shut throughout. After that, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Skip stage five altogether.
Hathern: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Esso, Morrisons or another — the attendants will normally help push the car clear, when you ask. If you are on your own drive in Hathern, leave the car where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. On the M1, under 3 miles from Hathern, that means the next junction. Distance counts — a quick hop across Hathern makes a smaller job than driving under 15 miles towards Nottingham — so tell us about how far it went.
Hathern: what occurs when our engineers turn up
By Hathern Church of England Primary School, near Hathern Village Hall or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run, since the answers determine this work and our quote. Nobody sets off before you've had our quote by phone.
Then that tank is drained and your system rinsed thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before leaving, our technicians fire it up and check that it's running properly.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit from arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Hathern, briefly
Hathern is a village in Leicestershire, situated on the banks of the River Soar at an elevation of around 44 metres. Hathern lies near the Nottinghamshire border, approximately 11.9 miles from Nottingham and 101.1 miles from London. Hathern has a mix of old and new housing, with detached homes being the predominant type, and is close to nearby villages such as Zouch and Normanton on Soar.
AdBlue drains across Leicestershire, Hathern included
Being a village, Hathern shares its vans nearby places — Normanton on Soar, Dishley — right across LE postcodes and the wider area around them. Quote a postcode beginning LE12 5, and the van gets there quickest.
Shifting the car isn't necessary. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Saints Peter and Paul, a lay-by on the way to Bailey's Plantation, a drive. Assuming won't help at the back of Hathern Library, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
The short version for Hathern people
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the car off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Leicestershire.