How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in High Etherley
Stop reading a minute if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor hasn't run, it is drained and thoroughly rinsed where the vehicle is in High Etherley. Reading in advance? Then the rest covers how it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single fluid but two: that's what many newer diesels near High Etherley and Woodside carry, with diesel feeding the engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different 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 your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around High Etherley
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a driveway off Garth Meadows before work, or in the car park at The Three Tuns on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after started, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of High Etherley or out in Low Etherley.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Witton Park or a forecourt in High Etherley, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles mark what belongs in each filler just there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Bishop Auckland.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Wherever in Durham the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Church Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, but it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently through its built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, then check again — making sure your diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start your car.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around High Etherley?
Brief list, then. Top of it: your engine remains unstarted. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The attendants at JET, Tesco or any forecourt will usually help pushing the car away if asked. On your own drive in High Etherley? So the car stays put.
Already run? Pull over when it is safe, then turn off. The next junction means the place to come off when you are on the A1(M), under 10 miles from High Etherley. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across High Etherley is smaller work than a trip of under 15 miles towards Durham, so say.
High Etherley: what occurs when we turn up
Wherever the car has stopped, be it outside Toft Hill Primary School, near St Cuthbert or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Which fluid went in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask since those answers set the work and quote. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it matters more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we leave, our engineers start the engine and check that it's running properly.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About High Etherley
High Etherley is a village in County Durham, situated near the lakeside and surrounded by rolling hills, with an elevation of 196 metres. High Etherley lies approximately 11 miles from the city of Durham and 227 miles from London, making it a rural community with semi-detached housing. High Etherley is close to nearby villages such as Low Etherley and Toft Hill, and has a population of around 1056 residents.
AdBlue drains about High Etherley, and Durham beyond
High Etherley is a village, and the teams that cover it also work the places around it, Phoenix Row and Toft Hill among them, across the DL postcode area. A postcode starting DL14 0 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to shift the car. Wherever it stands — beside Etherley Methodist Church, in a lay-by en route to Quarry Wood, at home — that's where it gets cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Toft Hill and Etherley Community Centre? By a county line? Asking is better than guessing, and so phone.
In short, for High Etherley motorists
First, the cap; after that, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Durham.