Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Normanton Spring
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, keep your ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Normanton Spring, finding it before the motor turns normally leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Reading in advance? In that case what follows explains why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many current diesels on the roads around Normanton Spring and Four Lane Ends carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. The mistake lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Normanton Spring?
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things coming up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Normanton Spring Court before work, or in the car park at The Strad on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar car.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Normanton Spring or out in Frecheville.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Normanton Spring forecourt or a drive over in Hackenthorpe, spend a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Woodhouse, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across South Yorkshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Normanton Spring Road.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It works.
- 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's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Normanton Spring?
Do not start the engine: that's where the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, Shell or another — the staff will normally help roll the vehicle clear, if you ask. On your own drive in Normanton Spring? So the car stays where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. Come off the M1 — under 5 miles out of Normanton Spring — at the first junction. A short hop across Normanton Spring is a smaller job than a run towards Sheffield, under 5 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival around Normanton Spring, and what takes place next
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Woodhouse West Primary School, near Scowerdons Community Centre or on your own drive. Both the work and our quote rest on three answers — what liquid, which amount, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. That quote comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, once your tank is drained. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Before we leave, our engineers start the car and make sure that it is running properly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our engineers get there, as long as your engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Normanton Spring and where it is
Normanton Spring is a suburban area located on the riverside in South Yorkshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Normanton Spring sits near the city of Sheffield, approximately 3.6 miles from the city centre, and is close to nearby places such as Frecheville and Coisley Hill. Normanton Spring has a population of around 3361 residents and is situated at an elevation of 87 metres. Normanton Spring is part of the larger Sheffield urban area, with easy access to the city's facilities and services.
AdBlue drains about Normanton Spring, and South Yorkshire beyond
As a residential suburb, Normanton Spring has the same vans as surrounding areas — Coisley Hill, Richmond — all the way through S postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Quickest of all: quote a S13 7 postcode to the van.
The vehicle stays put. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a road near Sleeping Giant, or a layby on the way to Wickfield Plantation. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Hopefield Evangelical Church? Close to a border? Asking beats assuming, so ring.
The short version for Normanton Spring drivers
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere around South Yorkshire.