Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Little Hallam: Why It Occurs
Pause reading for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. In Little Hallam, catching it before the engine runs usually leaves draining and a thorough flush where it stands. Here in advance? Then what follows covers how it happens and what to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to your engine — yet many newer diesels driven about Little Hallam and New Stanton carry another fluid as well. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to clean them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has a filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which cap to use. It's in the gap that the error lives.
Little Hallam: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a drive off Longfield Lane before work, or in the car park at The Davy Lamp on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it is empty, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where your hand reaches — but a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: a new car.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after started, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Little Hallam or out in Gallows Inn.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Little Hallam or a driveway over in Hallam Fields. Seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Ilkeston? Check with whoever drove it last before leaving, rather than when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere around Derbyshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Quarry Hill Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Step five is off limits.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Little Hallam?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. Keep your ignition off as well, since on many diesels it by itself starts your fuel pump. Do not 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 pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle away from the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Morrisons, the Asda or somewhere else. On your own drive in Little Hallam? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Little Hallam lies under 3 miles from the M1; there, use the next exit. Distance counts — a short hop across Little Hallam is a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to Nottingham — so tell us about how far it went.
Little Hallam: what occurs when our technicians get there
Outside Hallam Fields Junior School, close to AJKM Hockey Barn or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run, since the answers decide this work and our quote. Nobody heads out until you have had the quote by phone.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the fuel system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: crystals form, certain metals corrode, and none of that washes out on its own, no matter how long it sits. Testing comes last: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. Before we go, our technicians fire it up and check that it is running smoothly.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Little Hallam and where it is
Little Hallam is a suburban area in Derbyshire, situated near the River Erewash at an elevation of 79 metres. Little Hallam lies close to the city of Nottingham, approximately 6.5 miles to the west, and is part of the larger East Midlands region. Little Hallam has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. Little Hallam is also near several local landmarks, including the Gallows Inn and Kirk Hallam.
AdBlue drains round Little Hallam, and Derbyshire beyond
Little Hallam is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, Kirk Hallam and Ilkeston among them, across the DE postcode area. Give a postcode that starts DE7 4, and our van gets there fastest.
The vehicle stays where it is. Anywhere it sits — beside All Saints Church, in a layby en route to Kirk Hallam Playing Fields, on a drive — that's where it is cleared. Tricky to explain, like the back of Parish Church of St John the Evangelist? Close to a border? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
In short, for Little Hallam motorists
First, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere across Derbyshire.