How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Market Rasen
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Market Rasen, catching it before your engine runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. Reading in advance? Then what follows covers why it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
No single fluid but two: that is how many newer diesels around Market Rasen and Little London carry, with diesel feeding the engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Every tank has a filler of its own. 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. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Market Rasen: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off John Street before work, or in the car park at Advocate Arms on the way home.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand hits 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. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Market Rasen or out in Walesby Grange.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in West Rasen or a forecourt around Market Rasen, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the flap and check for a label — many vehicles show which goes in each inlet just there.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Lincolnshire that is.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Queen Street at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it works.
- Leave the 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's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never came off.
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 in Market Rasen already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Tesco, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. If you're on your own driveway around Market Rasen, leave the car where it sits.
When your engine has been run by now, pull over safely and turn it off. Market Rasen sits under 15 miles from the M180; there, take the next junction. A short hop across Market Rasen is a smaller job than a run towards Lincoln, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Market Rasen: what happens when our engineers arrive
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside The Market Rasen Church of England Primary School, near St Thomas' Church or on your own drive. The answers determine this work and the price, so our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of that washes out unaided, however long it sits. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The engine is fired up next and checked to make sure it runs smoothly, all before we go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our engineers arrive, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Market Rasen and where it is
Market Rasen is a town situated in the east of Lincolnshire, on the banks of the River Rase. Market Rasen sits at a relatively low elevation of around 30 metres, with the town's layout influenced by its riverside setting. Market Rasen has a mix of housing types, but detached homes are particularly prevalent, and the town is close to nearby places such as Walesby Grange and Middle Rasen. Market Rasen is located near the city of Lincoln, which is about 13 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Lincolnshire, Market Rasen included
Middle Rasen and Walesby are among the towns around Market Rasen, a riverside town, that the same teams cover, throughout LN postcodes. Quote a postcode that starts LN8 3, and the van gets there quickest.
The vehicle does not need to move. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Middle Rasen Church Hall, a lay-by on the way to Bell Park, a driveway. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Peter & St Paul, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Market Rasen drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere around Lincolnshire.