AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Owlthorpe: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. In Owlthorpe, catching it before your motor runs normally leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the motor — but plenty of modern diesels driven round Owlthorpe and Waterthorpe hold a second fluid too. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean it, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each forecourt visit, week in, week out. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think which cap to use. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Owlthorpe: how it takes place
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
On a driveway off Donetsk Way before work, or in the car park outside The Hogshead on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
No part halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Owlthorpe or out in Drakehouse.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Westfield or a forecourt around Owlthorpe, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside the diesel filler? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook will say which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Woodhouse, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere across South Yorkshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Donetsk Way Roundabout, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found the filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two share a flap, confirm it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Leave out stage five entirely.
Owlthorpe: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Do not start your engine: that's how the short order of things starts. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Asda, the another forecourt nearby or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Owlthorpe.
Where your engine has run already, stop safely and turn the car off. Owlthorpe sits under 5 miles from the M1; on it, use the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Owlthorpe is smaller work than a trip of under 10 miles to Sheffield, and so say.
Our arrival around Owlthorpe, and what happens next
Our van comes to the vehicle wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, near Drakes Descent, or outside Rainbow Forge Primary Academy. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run, because those answers determine the work and our price. The price is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals form, certain metals corrode, and nothing clears out unaided, no matter how long it sits. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we go, we start the engine and check that it's running properly.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Owlthorpe
Owlthorpe is a suburban area in South Yorkshire, situated near the River Rother and close to the city of Sheffield. Owlthorpe sits at an elevation of around 86 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Owlthorpe is located near other local places such as Drakehouse and Hackenthorpe, and is around 5 miles from Sheffield city centre. Owlthorpe has a population of approximately 4463 residents.
AdBlue drains about Owlthorpe, and South Yorkshire beyond
Moorhole and Hackenthorpe are among the places around Owlthorpe, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout S postcodes. A postcode starting S12 4 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to move the car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Ochre Dike Lane Playing Fields, a side street near Crystal Peaks Library: we drain the car where it is. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of TK Maxx, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Owlthorpe people, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across South Yorkshire.