Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Kingsfold
Keep the motor and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where your vehicle stands around Kingsfold, is usually what it needs when found before your engine runs. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
No single fluid but two: that's what many modern diesels near Kingsfold and White Stake carry, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place the two side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
Kingsfold: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Bank Parade before work, or in the car park at The Black Bull on the way home.
New-to-you cars come second, too. Rentals, new motors and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap 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, and so nothing stops the pour once it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Kingsfold or out in Middleforth Green.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Higher Penwortham or a forecourt around Kingsfold.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Preston.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Wherever across Lancashire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Hawksbury Drive, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Discover at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Stage five stays out.
Kingsfold: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Gulf, Esso or any forecourt will normally help to push the car clear when asked. If you're on your own drive around Kingsfold, leave the vehicle where it is.
When your motor has been run already, pull over somewhere safe then turn it off. Kingsfold sits under 3 miles from the M65; there, take the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Kingsfold is less work than a trip of under 3 miles towards Preston, and so tell us.
Kingsfold: what takes place when our technicians get there
Wherever the car has stopped, be it outside Kingsfold Primary School, beside Kingsfold Library or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Those replies determine the work and the quote, and so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. No one heads out until you've heard our quote over the phone.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. A test comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Your engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before we leave.
If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Kingsfold, for a moment
Kingsfold is a suburban area situated on the outskirts of Preston in Lancashire, with its riverside location providing scenic views. Kingsfold sits at an elevation of 31 metres, close to the River Ribble, and is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Kingsfold is located near other local areas, including Middleforth Green and Lower Penwortham, and is approximately 1.8 miles from Preston city centre. Kingsfold has a population of around 6251 residents.
AdBlue drains about Kingsfold, and Lancashire beyond
Penwortham Lane and Lower Penwortham are among the towns near Kingsfold, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over PR postcodes. Give a postcode beginning PR1 9, and our van arrives fastest.
Moving your car is not needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Kingsfold Playing Fields, a side street near Kingsfold Methodist Church: we drain it where it is. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St Leonard, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In short, for Kingsfold motorists
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, anywhere in Lancashire: switch the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.