How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Kingston Park
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Kingston Park, catching it before the motor turns normally leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to the motor — but many current diesels seen around Kingston Park and Woolsington hold a second fluid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens in Kingston Park
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Gatwick Court, or on the way home in the car park at Twin Farms.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: a strange motor.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, carries on. It's a few seconds, whether out in Kenton Bank Foot or right in the heart of Kingston Park.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Kenton Bar or a forecourt around Kingston Park, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- 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 outside Blaydon.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever around Tyne and Wear, use this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Brunton Road.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It seems daft. It works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Stop once that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently using the built-in spout.
- 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 just there. Stage five stays off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Kingston Park?
Brief list, then. Top of that: your motor stays off. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Tesco or the Shell, ask the staff to help roll your car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Kingston Park.
Already run? Pull over once it is safe, then turn off. The next exit means the place to leave if you are on the A167(M), under 5 miles from Kingston Park. A short hop across Kingston Park is a smaller job than a run towards Newcastle upon Tyne, under 5 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Kingston Park, and what takes place next
The van comes to the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, near the centre, or outside Kingston Park Primary School. Those answers settle the work and our quote, so we ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it's run. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it counts more. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Next we fire it up and check it runs smoothly before we leave.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run take about half an hour after we arrive. No money upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Kingston Park and where it is
Kingston Park is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Newcastle upon Tyne, situated near the River Tyne in north-eastern England. Kingston Park sits at an elevation of 63 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Kingston Park is close to several nearby places, including Kenton Bank Foot, Newcastle Great Park, and Fawdon, and is approximately 3.7 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne. Kingston Park has a population of around 4203 residents.
Kingston Park and Tyne and Wear: AdBlue drains across the area
Kingston Park is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Newcastle Great Park and Fawdon among them, across the NE postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a NE3 2 postcode to our van.
No need to shift the car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Marks & Spencer, a lay-by on the way to Blakelaw Park, a driveway. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Kingston Park Community Centre.
For Kingston Park motorists, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Tyne and Wear, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — and so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.