--- title: Lanchester: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank, Explained canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/lanchester-durham/ location: Lanchester county: Durham latitude: 54.821340 longitude: -1.742630 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-19 --- # Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lanchester: Why It Happens If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Lanchester. Here before the event? Then what follows explains how it happens and how to prevent it ever happening. ## Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler? Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Lanchester and Maiden Law carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own. There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. That gap is where the slip lives. ## Lanchester: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide. The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Church View before work, or in the car park outside Kings Head on the way home. Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't. 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 tip once it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Lanchester or out in Deanery View. ## Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel? Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Burnhope or a forecourt in Lanchester, check these. They take a few seconds. - The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by position. - The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two. - Look inside the fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where. - The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which. - The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Chester-Le-Street, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on. ## AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank Wherever in Durham the light comes on, this is a routine for that day. - Turn off once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside Station Road at the roadside. - Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick. - The two behind a single flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel filler stays shut before lifting the bottle. - Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty. - Shut the cap, and check once more — making sure the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle. Find during the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Don't go on to stage five. ## AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Lanchester? Brief list, then. First: the engine stays unstarted. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't 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 sucked from. On a forecourt — JET, Esso or another — the staff will normally help push the car away, when you ask. Your own driveway around Lanchester is where it should stay. If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the A1(M), under 10 miles from Lanchester, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Lanchester is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles to Durham, and so say. ## Our arrival around Lanchester, and what occurs next Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary School, close to Lanchester and District War Memorial or on your own drive. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask since the answers decide both work and price. That quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves. Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. That is why it matters more. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. Next our technicians start it and confirm it runs correctly before we leave. If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way. ## About Lanchester and where it is Lanchester is a village situated on the riverside in County Durham, with a population of around 2159 people. Lanchester sits at an elevation of 115 metres, approximately 7 miles from the city of Durham. Lanchester has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are the most predominant. Lanchester is located near other small communities such as Deanery View and Ornsby Hill. ## AdBlue drains round Lanchester, and Durham beyond Ornsby Hill and Malton are among the places around Lanchester, a village, that the same vans cover, over DH postcodes. Quickest of all: quote a DH7 0 postcode to our van. Moving the car isn't necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Dora's Wood, a side street close to All Saints Parish Church: we drain it where it stands. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Lanchester Methodist Church, ring and ask rather than assuming. ## In short, for Lanchester motorists First, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Durham, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103.