How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Leire
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, leave the ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done just where the car stands around Leire, is usually all it takes if found before the engine runs. Not happened yet? Below, the page covers the why it happens and the ways to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel feeds your motor — yet plenty of modern diesels driven around Leire and Broughton Astley carry another fluid as well. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have the two together behind one flap. Diesel goes in on each forecourt visit, again and again. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Leire?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off Eaglesfield End before work, or in the car park at Crab & Cow heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and if it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: a new motor.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once begun, carries on. Whether it happens in Ashby Parva or the middle of Leire, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these first, on a forecourt around Leire or a drive over in Primethorpe. Seconds, that's all.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it is if your filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Narborough's car park, say — rather than when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever in Leicestershire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush by Main Street at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The two under one flap? So make sure the cap on the diesel filler stays shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Leire?
Don't start the engine: that's where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Pace, Shell or any other — the attendants will normally help roll the vehicle clear, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Leire.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. On the M1, under 3 miles from Leire, that means the next exit. A short hop across Leire is a smaller job than a run towards Leicester, under 10 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our technicians get there around Leire, what occurs?
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Hallbrook Primary School, close to Leire Village Hall or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, since the replies settle the work and our price. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of it washes out unaided. That is why it matters more. Filter flushed or, if it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a check of the vehicle. We do not leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. 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 deposit. It's worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Leire and where it is
Leire is a small village in Leicestershire, situated inland at an elevation of 108 metres, approximately 9.6 miles from Leicester. Leire has a population of around 636 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Leire is located near several other villages, including Ashby Parva, Dunton Bassett, and Frolesworth, in the East Midlands region of England.
AdBlue drains around Leire and across Leicestershire
Dunton Bassett and Frolesworth are among the towns near Leire, a rural village, that the same vans cover, throughout LE postcodes. Give a postcode that starts LE17 5, and the van arrives quickest.
Shifting your car isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Leire Playing Field, a side street close to St Peter: our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. Assuming won't help at the back of Ashby Parva Village Hall, close to a border, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and check.
For Leire motorists, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the car switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Leicestershire.