Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Moira: Why It Happens
Keep your motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Normally, if your motor has not turned, it is drained and fully cleaned where the vehicle sits in Moira. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds your engine — but plenty of current diesels driven round Moira and Short Heath carry another fluid too. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the gas.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place the two together under one flap. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in that gap that the mistake happens.
Moira: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Ashby Road, perhaps outside The Railway on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar motors come next, as well. Hire cars, new cars and company cars place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap 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 tip after it has started. Ashby Woulds or the middle of Moira: it is the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Moira or a driveway over in Donisthorpe. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it beside the diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Burton-On-Trent? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Leicestershire that is.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Canal View Lane.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, yet it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, confirm it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Never go on to stage five.
Moira: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Don't start your engine: that is where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Asda or the Esso, ask the attendants to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. If you're on your own driveway around Moira, leave it where it sits.
When your engine has been run by now, pull over safely and turn the car off. Moira sits under 5 miles from the M42; on it, use the first junction. A short hop across Moira is a smaller job than a run towards Lichfield, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Moira, and what happens next
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Moira Primary School, close to Moira Replan or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run, since those answers settle this work and the quote. You hear that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, after that tank is drained. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of it washes away unaided. Hence it matters more. Once your filter has been flushed — or replaced, if required — clean diesel goes in, and then the car gets tested. Next we start the engine and confirm it runs correctly before we go.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Moira and where it is
Moira is a village in Leicestershire, situated on the riverside in the East Midlands region of England. Moira sits at an elevation of 108 metres, with its detached housing stock reflecting its relatively affluent character. Moira is located near several smaller settlements, including Ashby Woulds and Norris Hill, and is within commuting distance of Lichfield. Moira has a population of around 1374 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains across Leicestershire, Moira included
Moira is a village, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, Norris Hill and Spring Cottage among them, across the DE postcode area. A postcode starting DE12 6 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle stays put. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Maybury Wood, a side street near Moira Village Hall: our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. Guessing won't help behind Moira Furnace Museum, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
Moira motorists: the short version
First, the cap; then, the tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, anywhere in Leicestershire: switch the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.