How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Newland
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down for now, leave the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Around Newland, finding it before your engine runs usually means a drain and a full flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page covers the why it occurs and the ways to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels near Newland and West Carr run, with diesel for the engine. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to clean them, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on each tank. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both side by side under one flap. Topping up the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur around Newland?
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things lining up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Cottingham Road before work, or in the car park outside Haworth Arms on the way home.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle 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.
Nothing stops the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, whether in Sculcoates or bang in the heart of Newland.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Inglemire or a forecourt around Newland, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it is when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check as you collect a hire car or fleet car — at Hull's car park, say — not once the light appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — wherever you are around East Riding of Yorkshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Blaydes Street.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located the filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, and check again — confirm your diesel cap remained shut the whole time. After that, start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Newland?
The short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at JET, Shell or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car away when you ask. On your own drive in Newland? Then the car remains put.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Newland sits under 15 miles from the M180; there, take the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Kingston upon Hull, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Newland.
When we arrive around Newland, what takes place?
Wherever the car came to rest, be it by St Nicholas Primary School, beside St. John, Newland or on your own drive, the van travels to it. We ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run, because those replies determine the work and our price. You get that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
Then the tank is drained and your system rinsed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our engineers go.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Newland, for a moment
Newland is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, with a mix of terraced housing and local amenities. Newland sits near the Humber Estuary, at a low elevation of around 4 metres, and is close to nearby places such as Sculcoates and Stepney. Newland is part of the larger urban area surrounding Kingston upon Hull, with the city centre just 1.9 miles away. Newland has a population of approximately 11,540 residents.
AdBlue drains across East Riding of Yorkshire, Newland included
As a residential suburb, Newland shares its vans surrounding places — Newland Park, Stepney — right through HU postcodes and the wider area around them. A postcode starting HU6 7 gets the van to you fastest.
The car does not need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Oak Road Playing Fields, a side street near Oasis Hub Hull: our engineers drain the car where it is. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Trinity Methodist Church.
The short version for Newland drivers
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the car switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across East Riding of Yorkshire.