How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hedon
Leave your motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In Hedon, finding it before the motor runs usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it takes place and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single fluid but two: that's how plenty of modern diesels near Hedon and East End run, with diesel feeding the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Other motors keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have the two side by side behind one flap. Diesel goes in at each filling station visit, week in, week out. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think which filler it needs. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Hedon
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
On a drive off St Augustines Gate before work, or in the car park at Queens Head on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode follows.
New-to-you cars come next, 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 spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as readily, and once the pour starts, no part stops it. Preston or the heart of Hedon: it takes the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Hedon forecourt or a drive over in Thorngumbald, spend a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- On many motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it is if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you collect a hire car or fleet car — from Hull's car park, say — rather than when the warning appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere across East Riding of Yorkshire, follow this routine.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of New Road.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Finish when your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly using its own spout.
- Close the cap, then check again — confirm the diesel cap remained closed the whole time. After that, start the vehicle.
Discover during the second or third step that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Step five stays out.
Hedon: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief order, then. Top of that: your motor stays unstarted. Keep your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it by itself runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — Applegreen, Burstwick Service Station or another — the staff will usually help roll the car away, if you ask. Your own drive around Hedon is the place it should stay.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction is the place to leave if you're on the M180, under 15 miles from Hedon. A short hop across Hedon is a smaller job than a run towards Kingston upon Hull, under 10 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Hedon, and what occurs next
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Hedon Primary School, near Hedon Museum or on your own drive. What liquid got in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask since those replies set the work and quote. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the fuel system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. A test comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or changed as needed. The engine is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs properly, all before our technicians leave.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is safe on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Hedon, for a moment
Hedon is a small town on the coast of East Riding of Yorkshire, situated near the city of Kingston upon Hull. Hedon has a population of around 7672 people and is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock. Hedon sits at a low elevation of approximately 5 metres above sea level, close to nearby places such as Preston and Salt End. Hedon is located about 5.5 miles from Kingston upon Hull and 154.3 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across East Riding of Yorkshire, Hedon included
Being a coastal town, Hedon has the same vans as surrounding places — West End, Salt End — all the way across HU postcodes and the surrounding area around them. A postcode starting HU12 8 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving the car is not needed. We drain it where it is — a side street near Hedon Town Hall, a lay-by on the way to Watson Park, a drive. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Hedon Centre? Close to a county line? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
The short version for Hedon drivers
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across East Riding of Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — and so leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.