--- title: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank Ilkeston: Explained canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/ilkeston-derbyshire/ location: Ilkeston county: Derbyshire latitude: 52.969740 longitude: -1.309300 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-02 --- # Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ilkeston: Why It Occurs If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your engine hasn't turned, it's drained and thoroughly flushed where your car is in Ilkeston. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time. ## Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler? Diesel feeds the engine — but plenty of modern diesels driven around Ilkeston and Kirk Hallam hold another liquid as well. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas. Separate tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump happens all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. It's in the gap that the error happens. ## Ilkeston: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things lining up together. On a driveway off South Street before work, or in the car park at Hogarths on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows. The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle. And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Ilkeston or out in Larklands. ## How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one Whether a Ilkeston forecourt or a drive over in Gallows Inn, take a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in. - Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits. - On many motors, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck. - Look inside your fuel flap: many motors carry a label there showing which fuel goes where. - The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which. - Whoever had it before knows. Check when you pick up a hire car or company car — from the nearest station's car park, say — not once the light appears. ## Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank Anywhere in Derbyshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day. - Not in a rush on the side of Coronation Street, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly. - Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick. - If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on. - Stop when your tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly using its own spout. - Shut the cap, then check once more — making sure your diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the car. Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went in the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Don't go on to step five. ## Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Ilkeston? Brief list, then. First: the engine stays unstarted. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that is where the fuel is sucked from. Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Applegreen, the Morrisons or anywhere else. Your own driveway around Ilkeston is the place it stays. Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. The next junction means where to leave when you are on the M1, under 3 miles from Ilkeston. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Nottingham, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Ilkeston. ## Our arrival in Ilkeston, and what occurs next Outside Chaucer Infant School, close to Ilkeston Library or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, since the answers determine this work and our price. The price is given on the call, before any van leaves. Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once the tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it counts more. The filter cleaned or, where it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; then a check of your vehicle. Next our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs correctly before we go. With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor hasn't run need about half an hour after our engineers arrive. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way. ## About Ilkeston and where it is Ilkeston is a town in Derbyshire, situated in the East Midlands region of England, approximately 6.6 miles west of Nottingham. Ilkeston lies inland, with an elevation of around 103 metres, and is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Ilkeston is close to several nearby places, including Larklands and Little Hallam, and is connected to the wider region via Ilkeston Junction. Ilkeston has a population of around 20,683 people, making it a significant urban centre in the area. ## AdBlue drains around Ilkeston and across Derbyshire Ilkeston is a town, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Little Hallam and Ilkeston Junction among them, across the DE postcode area. A postcode starting DE7 5 gets our van to you fastest. Moving the car is not needed. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Chaucer Old Park, a side street near YMCA Derbyshire Learning & Development Centre: our engineers drain it where it sits. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Queen Street Baptist Church. ## The short version for Ilkeston drivers Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it is, anywhere across Derbyshire: keep the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.