AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Leven: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. In Leven, catching it before the motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it occurs and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that is how many modern diesels around Leven and Brandesburton carry, with diesel feeding the engine. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from a separate tank.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Many of vehicles share a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually comes from a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what filler to use. It's in that gap that the error lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place in Leven
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off South Street, perhaps at The New Inn on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: a strange motor.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Leven or out in Little Leven.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Leven forecourt or a driveway out in Sandfield, spend a couple of seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- On many motors, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Arram? Ask whoever drove the car last before leaving, not once the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is across East Riding of Yorkshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, motor off, and not in a rush by North Street on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — after you have located your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Stage five stays out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Leven already?
The short order of things, starting with no starting your engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Gulf, the Rix or anywhere else. At home around Leven? So the vehicle remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. The next junction means where to leave if you're on the M62, under 25 miles from Leven. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Leven is smaller a job than a run of under 15 miles to Kingston upon Hull, so tell us.
When our technicians arrive in Leven, what takes place?
Outside Leven Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, close to Holy Trinity Church or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Those replies settle the work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run. On the call itself, you are told the price — before dispatch.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out unaided. That is why it matters more. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of your car. Before we leave, we fire it up and check that it is running correctly.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine has not run need roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Leven and where it is
Leven is a village situated on the banks of the River Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, with a low elevation of around 6 metres above sea level. Leven lies approximately 10 miles from Kingston upon Hull, and is surrounded by smaller settlements such as Little Leven and Catwick. Leven has a population of around 1597 people, and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Leven is located near the junction of several minor roads, connecting it to nearby villages and the city of Kingston upon Hull.
AdBlue drains across East Riding of Yorkshire, Leven included
Over HU postcodes, the teams covering Leven — a village — work the surrounding locations too, Catwick and Little Catwick included. Quickest of all: give a HU17 5 postcode to the van.
Your car remains put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Studforth Plantation, a side street close to Leven Sports Hall: our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Leven Recreation Hall, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Leven motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere around East Riding of Yorkshire.