Middle Rasen: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Stop here for a moment when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where the car stands in Middle Rasen, is usually all it takes if caught before your motor runs. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels around Osgodby, as well as Middle Rasen, carry on two fluids; the engine takes just your diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
There's a filler for each tank. Plenty of motors have a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. It's in the gap that the slip lives.
Middle Rasen: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
On a driveway off Church Street before work, or in the car park at Nag's Head on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and if it is gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is a second thing: a new motor.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, carries on. Whether it takes place in Market Rasen or the middle of Middle Rasen, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Middle Rasen forecourt or a drive over in Buslingthorpe, take a few seconds over these before any goes in.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is when the filler is not next to your 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 at Market Rasen, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — anywhere it is around Lincolnshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Old Gallamore Lane.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both share a flap, confirm it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — confirm your diesel cap stayed shut throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't carry on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Middle Rasen?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Tesco, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Middle Rasen.
When your motor has been run by now, stop safely and switch it off. Middle Rasen sits under 15 miles from the M180; on it, use the first junction. A short hop across Middle Rasen is a smaller job than a run towards Lincoln, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Middle Rasen: what happens when we turn up
By The Middle Rasen Primary School, close to Middle Rasen Church Hall or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the price rest on three replies — which fluid, what amount, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Then your tank is drained and the system flushed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Next our technicians fire it up and confirm it runs smoothly before we leave.
Unrun vehicles mostly need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Middle Rasen
Middle Rasen is a village situated on the banks of the River Rase in Lincolnshire, with a low elevation of around 23 metres. Middle Rasen lies near the market town of Market Rasen and other nearby villages such as West Rasen and Walesby Grange. Middle Rasen has a population of approximately 850 residents, predominantly living in detached houses. Middle Rasen is located about 12.8 miles from the city of Lincoln and around 130 miles north of London.
AdBlue drains across Lincolnshire, Middle Rasen included
West Rasen and Walesby Grange are among the places near Middle Rasen, a village, that the same vans cover, throughout LN postcodes. A postcode starting LN8 3 gets the van to you fastest.
Shifting the vehicle isn't needed. Wherever it sits — near Middle Rasen Village Hall, in a lay-by en route to Primary Park, on a drive — that's where it is cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of St Peter & St Paul? By a border? Asking is better than guessing, so phone.
For Middle Rasen people, the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it stands, wherever in Lincolnshire: keep it off then ring 0333 366 0103.