Holystone: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Stop reading for a moment when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Around Holystone, finding it before the engine runs usually leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it occurs and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to the motor — yet plenty of newer diesels driven about Holystone and Killingworth Moor hold a second liquid too. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually comes from a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think which cap to use. It's in the gap that the slip lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Holystone
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off St Bedes Walk before work, or in the car park outside The Holystone on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it happens in West Allotment or the middle of Holystone, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Backworth or a forecourt around Holystone.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Seaton Delaval, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Tyne and Wear that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of St. Cuthbert's Way, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and check again that the diesel cap was never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Holystone?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. Keep your ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on by itself starts the pump. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — JET, Asda or any other — the staff will usually help push your car away, if you ask. Your own driveway in Holystone is where it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next exit means where to leave if you're on the A167(M), under 5 miles from Holystone. About how far did it go? Hopping across Holystone is smaller work than a trip of under 5 miles towards Newcastle upon Tyne, and so say.
Our arrival in Holystone, and what happens next
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, be it by Holystone Primary School, near West Allotment Community Centre or at home, the van comes to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — what fluid, which amount, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. You get that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the fuel system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Once the fuel filter is cleaned — or replaced, where required — fresh diesel goes in, and finally your car is tested. We do not leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our technicians get there, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Holystone, for a moment
Holystone is a suburban area located on the riverside in Tyne and Wear, with a mix of housing types but predominantly detached homes. Holystone sits at an elevation of 71 metres, close to the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, which is approximately 4.7 miles away. Holystone is part of the wider urban area surrounding Newcastle, with nearby places including West Allotment, Benton Square, and Palmersville. Holystone has a population of around 3881 residents.
AdBlue drains about Holystone, and Tyne and Wear beyond
Benton Square and Palmersville are among the places around Holystone, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over NE postcodes. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting NE27 0.
The car does not need to move. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near WW1, a lay-by on the way to Procters recreational ground, a drive. Tricky to explain, like the back of Our Lady And St. Edmund Church? Close to a border? Checking is better than guessing, so phone.
Holystone motorists: the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Tyne and Wear, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave it off and call 0333 366 0103.