Neaton: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, keep the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Neaton. Here in advance? Then what follows explains how it comes about and how to stop it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels in Saham Toney, as well as Neaton, run on two fluids; your engine gets only your diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It's in the gap that the mistake happens.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Neaton: how it occurs
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and running out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Dorrs Drive, or outside Willow House on the way home after work.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after begun, keeps on. It takes seconds, whether in Watton or bang in the centre of Neaton.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Caudlesprings or a forecourt around Neaton.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- Can't find it next to the diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you pick up a rental or company car — from Harling Road's car park, say — not when the light appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Norfolk that is.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine stopped, and never in a rush by Southview Close at the roadside.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — after you have located your filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the 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. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Step five stays off limits.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Neaton?
Brief list, then. Top of it: the motor stays unstarted. Keep the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself runs the pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Shell, the JET or anywhere else. Your own driveway around Neaton is where it stays.
Where the motor has been run by now, pull over somewhere safe and switch the car off. The next exit is where to come off if you're on the M11, under 50 miles from Neaton. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Norwich, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Neaton.
Neaton: what occurs when our engineers turn up
Wherever the car came to rest, whether outside Watton Junior School, near Watton Sports Association & Social Club or at home, the van travels to it. Our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run, since the answers settle this work and the price. You get that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once the tank is cleared. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. After the filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel is added, and then your car gets tested. Before we go, our technicians start it and make sure that it's running properly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor has not run take roughly half an hour once our engineers are there. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Neaton and where it is
Neaton is a suburban area in Norfolk, situated inland at an elevation of around 45 metres, and is located near the towns of Watton and Ovington. Neaton has a population of approximately 1138 residents and is characterized by predominantly detached housing. Neaton is within commuting distance of Norwich, which is about 19.7 miles away, and is also around 84.4 miles from London. Neaton sits in a rural setting, surrounded by nearby villages such as Watton Green.
AdBlue drains across Norfolk, Neaton included
Being a residential suburb, Neaton has the same vans as surrounding areas — Ovington, Watton Green — right through IP postcodes and the wider area around them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting IP25 6.
Moving your car is not needed. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Saint Mary's, a lay-by on the way to Loch Neaton, a driveway. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Watton Pentecostal Church, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Neaton drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Norfolk.