AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Overseal: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Keep your motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before your engine runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Overseal. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels in Ashby Woulds, like those in Overseal, carry on two liquids; the motor gets only your diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
There's a filler on every tank. Many of vehicles have a single flap for the two, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think what filler to use. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Overseal?
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Burton Road before work, or in the car park outside The Robin Hood on the way home.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as readily, and once the pour begins, no part stops it. Gorsey Leys or the middle of Overseal: it is the same few seconds either way.
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 Linton Heath or a forecourt around Overseal.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- On many vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — plenty of cars mark what belongs in which inlet right there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Burton-On-Trent.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — anywhere you are around Derbyshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, engine off, and never in a rush beside Main Street at the roadside.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It seems daft. It works.
- The two under a single flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel side stays closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Skip step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Overseal already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Morrisons, Sainsbury's or any forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the car away when asked. Your own drive in Overseal is where it stays.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M42 — under 3 miles out of Overseal — at the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Lichfield, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Overseal.
Our arrival around Overseal, and what occurs next
Our van reaches the car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Saint Matthew's Church, or outside Overseal Primary School. Which fluid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the replies set the work and price. That quote comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out unaided. Hence it matters more. Once the fuel filter is flushed — or renewed, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then the car is tested. Next our technicians fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before we leave.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Overseal, briefly
Overseal is a village in Derbyshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 104 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Overseal lies near several smaller settlements, including Gorsey Leys and Short Heath, and is within commuting distance of Lichfield, which is 11.6 miles away. Overseal has a population of approximately 1938 residents, who enjoy a relatively rural location, despite being within a day's travel of London, which is around 104.5 miles to the south. Overseal's riverside setting provides a pleasant environment for its inhabitants.
Overseal and Derbyshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Short Heath and Spring Cottage are among the towns around Overseal, a village, that the same vans cover, throughout DE postcodes. A postcode starting DE12 6 gets the van to you fastest.
The car remains where it is. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Swainspark Wood, a side street close to Overseal Baptist Church: our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Saint Matthew's Church Centre, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In short, for Overseal people
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across Derbyshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.