How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Overton
Stop reading for a moment if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. In Overton, finding it before the engine turns normally leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds the engine — but plenty of current diesels driven around Overton and Heaton hold another fluid too. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying treats the gas.
Different tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many motors. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. It's in that gap that the slip happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Overton: how it takes place
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things lining up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Chapel Lane, perhaps outside Ship Inn on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: a strange motor.
No part halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Overton or out in Middleton.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Stodday or a forecourt in Overton, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- On plenty of cars, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from Heysham Port's car park, say — rather than when the warning comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Anywhere across Lancashire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Main Street, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Step five is off limits.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Overton already?
Do not start the motor: that is how the short order of things starts. Keep the ignition off as well, because on many diesels switching it on by itself starts your pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Essar or the JET, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. Your own drive around Overton is the place it should stay.
When your motor has run by now, pull over somewhere safe and turn it off. Overton lies under 5 miles from the M6; on it, use the next junction. Mileage counts — a short hop across Overton makes a smaller job than heading under 5 miles to Lancaster — so say about how far it went.
When we turn up around Overton, what happens?
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, whether by Overton St Helen's Church of England Primary School, beside Memorial Hall or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Those replies determine the work and our quote, so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. No one sets off until you've had our quote over the phone.
Emptying that tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that clears away unaided. That is why it counts more. Once the fuel filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if needed — clean diesel goes in, and then your car is tested. Before leaving, our engineers start the engine and confirm that it is running properly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine has not run take about half an hour after our technicians are there. Your 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 money upfront. While we travel, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Overton and where it is
Overton is a small village in Lancashire, situated near the coast and close to the city of Lancaster. Overton has a low elevation of around 12 metres, and its proximity to Lancaster makes it a popular residential area. Overton is characterised by its semi-detached housing and is located near other nearby places such as Middleton and Glasson.
Overton and Lancashire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over LA postcodes, our vans that cover Overton — a coastal village — work the surrounding spots too, Glasson and Sunderland among them. Fastest of all: give a LA3 3 postcode to the van.
Your car doesn't need to shift. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Overton Scout Hut, a lay-by on the way to Middleton Wood, a drive. Assuming doesn't help at the back of St Helen's Church, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
Overton motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere in Lancashire.