Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lilypool: Why It Happens
Pause here a minute if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the motor hasn't turned, it is drained and thoroughly purged where the car sits in Lilypool. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it happens and the how to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel feeds your engine — yet many newer diesels seen about Lilypool and Mount Pleasant hold another liquid too. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Lilypool: how it happens
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
On a drive off Tivey Way before work, or in the car park outside The White Swan on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once begun, keeps on. Whether it occurs in Melbourne or the middle of Lilypool, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Wilson or a forecourt around Lilypool.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many motors mark what goes in each inlet just there.
- The handbook shows where it lives if the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you collect a rental or company car — at Peartree's car park, say — rather than when the light appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Derbyshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Carr Brook Way.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located your filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Stop once your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly through its own spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Stage five is off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Lilypool?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the engine. Keep your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts your pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Doves Garages Ltd, John Smith Coal Merchant or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the car away if you ask. If you are on your own driveway around Lilypool, leave the vehicle where it sits.
When the engine has run already, pull over safely then switch it off. On the M1, under 5 miles from Lilypool, that means the next exit. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Lilypool is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Derby — so tell us about how far it went.
What happens when we get there in Lilypool
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Melbourne Junior School, near Old Market Monument or on your own driveway. Which liquid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask because those answers set the work and price. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, once that tank is emptied. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. Once your filter is flushed — or replaced, if required — fresh diesel is added, and then your car gets tested. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our technicians get there, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Lilypool itself
Lilypool is a suburban area in Derbyshire, situated approximately 7 miles from Derby and 106 miles from London, with a population of around 3560 residents. Lilypool sits at an elevation of 69 metres, characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Lilypool is located near several other settlements, including Melbourne, Kings Newton, and New York. Lilypool forms part of the wider Derby urban area, in the East Midlands region of England.
AdBlue drains round Lilypool, and Derbyshire beyond
Kings Newton and New York are among the places near Lilypool, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout DE postcodes. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting DE73 8.
Shifting the vehicle is not necessary. Draining happens right there, whether a drive, a street by Melbourne Methodist Church, or a lay-by towards Cliff Wood. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Catholic Church of Melbourne and Castle Donington, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The short version for Lilypool people
Read the cap before you pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it is, wherever around Derbyshire: keep the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.