AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Howlish: Why It Occurs and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done right where the vehicle sits around Howlish, is usually all it needs when found before the engine runs. Here in advance? In that case the rest explains how it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single liquid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels around Howlish and Eldon run, with diesel for the engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
There is a filler for each tank. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in on each forecourt call-out, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
Howlish: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Hillside Road, perhaps at The Three Tuns on the way home after work.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after started, carries on. Coundon or the middle of Howlish: it is the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Coundon Grange or a forecourt in Howlish, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the flap and check for a label — plenty of motors mark which goes in which inlet just there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Shildon? Ask whoever drove it last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — wherever you are across Durham — a simple routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Nicholson Court.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop right there. Do not go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Howlish already?
Don't start the engine: that's where the short order of things starts. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Gulf, Binchester Service Station or another forecourt will normally help pushing the car clear when asked. On your own drive in Howlish? Then the vehicle remains put.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Howlish lies under 5 miles from the A1(M); on it, use the first junction. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Howlish makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to Durham — so say about how far it went.
Our arrival in Howlish, and what takes place next
Anywhere your car came to rest, whether by St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Coundon, beside St Joseph's or on your own drive, our van travels to it. We ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run, since those answers decide the work and the quote. On the call itself, you are told our price — before anything else.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that counts 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. After your filter is cleaned — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally the vehicle is tested. After that our technicians fire it up and confirm it runs properly before we leave.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Howlish itself
Howlish is a small hamlet in County Durham, situated inland at an elevation of 166 metres, approximately 8.7 miles from the city of Durham. Howlish is characterized by its terraced housing and is located near other local places such as Coundon, Leeholme, and Close House. Howlish has a population of around 562 people and is part of the wider Durham area.
AdBlue drains across Durham, Howlish included
Howlish is a rural hamlet, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, Leeholme and Close House among them, across the DL postcode area. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting DL14 8.
No need to move the car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Church of St James, a lay-by on the way to West Fall Plantation, a driveway. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Coundon War Memorial, close to a border, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and check.
In short, for Howlish drivers
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave it off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere around Durham.