Mapplewell: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Leave the engine and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before your engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Mapplewell. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one liquid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels near Mapplewell and New Lodge run, with diesel for the engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt call-out, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs in Mapplewell
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 letting it run out means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Spark Lane, or outside Talbot Inn on the way home after work.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. Staincross or the heart of Mapplewell: it is the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Mapplewell forecourt or a drive out in Darton, spend a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Darton, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in South Yorkshire that is.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and never in a rush by Towngate on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, and check again — confirm the diesel cap stayed shut throughout. After that, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Skip stage five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Mapplewell?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Shell, another forecourt nearby or any forecourt will normally help pushing the vehicle away if asked. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Mapplewell.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M1, under 3 miles from Mapplewell, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Mapplewell is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles to Wakefield, and so say.
Mapplewell: what occurs when our technicians turn up
Our van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own drive, beside Staincross Christian Fellowship, or by Mapplewell Primary School. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run, because the replies decide this work and the price. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — before dispatch.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of it clears out on its own, no matter how long it sits. A test comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or changed as needed. After that our engineers fire it up and confirm it runs correctly before we go.
Unstarted cars usually mean a half-hour job after arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Mapplewell itself
Mapplewell is a suburban area in South Yorkshire, situated approximately 6.8 miles from Wakefield and 154.8 miles from London. Mapplewell lies inland at an elevation of around 98 metres, near the communities of Staincross, Greenside, and Low Barugh. Mapplewell has a population of around 5816 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains across South Yorkshire, Mapplewell included
Being a residential suburb, Mapplewell has the same vans as surrounding areas — Greenside, Low Barugh — all the way across S postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Quickest of all: quote a S75 6 postcode for our van.
Shifting your car isn't needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Mapplewell Play Area, a side street near Staincross Methodist Church: our engineers drain the car where it stands. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Mapplewell & Staincross Village Hall, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The short version for Mapplewell motorists
First, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in South Yorkshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103.