Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Highwoods: Why It Happens
Leave your motor and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the car sits around Highwoods, is normally what it needs if found before the motor runs. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels around Dolcliffe Common, like those in Highwoods, run on two fluids; the motor gets only the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Other vehicles put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have both together under one flap. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place in Highwoods?
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Manvers Road before work, or in the car park at The Falcon on the way home.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after started, carries on. It's seconds, be it out in Mexborough or right in the centre of Highwoods.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Highwoods forecourt or a driveway out in Adwick upon Dearne, take a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- On plenty of cars, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to the diesel filler? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say which.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you pick up a hire car or company car — from Mexborough's car park, perhaps — not once the warning appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around South Yorkshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Highwoods Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, and check once more — confirm the diesel cap remained shut throughout. After that, start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Stage five is out.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Highwoods?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
The staff at JET, Tesco or another forecourt will normally help pushing the vehicle clear if you ask. Your own drive around Highwoods is where it stays.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit means the place to leave when you are on the M18, under 5 miles from Highwoods. A short hop across Highwoods is a smaller job than a run towards Doncaster, under 10 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our engineers turn up in Highwoods
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Highwoods Academy, near Mexborough Children's Centre or on your own driveway. Both the work and the price depend on three answers — which fluid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. On the call itself, you are told our price — ahead of anything else.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of that washes out on its own, however long it is left. Testing comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed as needed. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine has not run take about half an hour once our technicians are there. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Highwoods, for a moment
Highwoods is a suburban area in South Yorkshire, situated approximately 7 miles from Doncaster and 146 miles from London, with a population of around 3648 residents. Highwoods is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing stock and lies at an elevation of 48 metres above sea level. Highwoods is located near several other local places, including Mexborough, Bow Broom, and Swinton Bridge, and is part of the wider Doncaster urban area.
AdBlue drains in Highwoods and across South Yorkshire
As a residential suburb, Highwoods shares its vans nearby areas — Bow Broom, Swinton Bridge — all the way through S postcodes and the wider area around them. A postcode starting S64 9 gets our van to you fastest.
Moving the car isn't needed. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Mexborough Library, a lay-by on the way to Walker Street Park, a drive. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Mexborough Market, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Highwoods motorists, the short version
Tip nothing until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around South Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.