Little Sheffield: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done right where your vehicle stands in Little Sheffield, is usually all it needs if found before the motor runs. Here in advance? Then what follows covers why it happens and how to stop it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads around Little Sheffield and Sharrow carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank comes with one filler of its own. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have both together under one flap. Topping up your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. It is in that gap that the slip happens.
Little Sheffield: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off London Road, perhaps at Barry's Bar on the way home that evening.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
Nothing halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, whether in Highfield or right in the heart of Little Sheffield.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Broomfield or a forecourt in Little Sheffield.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- On plenty of motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — many motors show what goes in which inlet just there.
- The handbook shows which it is when your filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Sheffield, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever in South Yorkshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Leverton Gardens, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and 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.
- 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 — making sure the diesel cap stayed closed throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays out.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Little Sheffield already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. Keep the ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on by itself runs your pump. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Shell, BP or any other — the staff will usually help roll the car away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Little Sheffield.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction is where to leave if you're on the M1, under 5 miles from Little Sheffield. A short hop across Little Sheffield is a smaller job than a run towards Sheffield, under a mile away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Little Sheffield: what happens when we get there
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Sharrow Nursery, Infant and Junior School, close to Joan of Arc or on your own driveway. What liquid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask since the replies decide both work and price. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. After the fuel filter has been flushed — or replaced, if needed — clean diesel goes in, and then your car is tested. Before we go, our technicians start the engine and check that it is running properly.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Little Sheffield, for a moment
Little Sheffield is a suburban area located on the riverside in South Yorkshire, with a mix of residential and commercial properties. Little Sheffield sits at an elevation of 77 metres, close to the city centre of Sheffield, and is characterised by a high proportion of flat dwellings. Little Sheffield is situated near other local areas, including Highfield, Sharrow Head, and Lowfield, and is home to a population of approximately 15,127 people. Little Sheffield is connected to the wider region, with London being around 140.7 miles to the south.
AdBlue drains around Little Sheffield, and South Yorkshire beyond
Little Sheffield is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Sharrow Head and Lowfield among them, across the S postcode area. A postcode starting S2 4 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift your car. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a driveway, a road near Sheffield Chinese Community Centre, or a lay-by on the way to Porter Brook Viewing Area. Awkward to explain, like the back of Israac Somali Community Association? By a border? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
In short, for Little Sheffield motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across South Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.