Pattishall: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your motor has not run, it is emptied and fully flushed where the vehicle is in Pattishall. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the reasons it takes place and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single liquid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels near Pattishall and Astcote carry, with diesel feeding your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in that gap that the error lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur around Pattishall?
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off The Crescent before work, or in the car park at The Eastcote Arms on the way home.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. It takes seconds, whether in Fosters Booth or right in the heart of Pattishall.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Dalscote or a forecourt in Pattishall.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by the 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 collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Northampton.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Northamptonshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Private Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, but it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and look again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Step five stays out.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Pattishall already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — Shell, another forecourt nearby or another — the attendants will normally help push the car clear, if you ask. If you're on your own drive around Pattishall, leave it where it sits.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction is where to come off if you are on the M1, under 5 miles from Pattishall. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Milton Keynes, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Pattishall.
Pattishall: what takes place when our technicians turn up
By Pattishall Church of England Primary School, near Holy Cross Pattishall or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — what liquid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so we ask. Nobody sets off until you have had our quote over the phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears out by itself. Hence it counts more. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. After that our engineers start the car and make sure it runs properly before we leave.
Unrun cars usually need a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It's worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Pattishall, briefly
Pattishall is a small village in Northamptonshire, situated in the East Midlands region of England, with a population of around 662 people. Pattishall sits at an elevation of 129 metres, surrounded by nearby places such as Fosters Booth, Eastcote, and Cold Higham. Pattishall is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Pattishall is located approximately 60 miles northwest of London and 15 miles northeast of Milton Keynes.
AdBlue drains across Northamptonshire, Pattishall included
Being a rural village, Pattishall shares its vans nearby places — Eastcote, Cold Higham — all the way across NN postcodes and the wider area beyond. Quote a postcode beginning NN12 8, and the van arrives fastest.
Shifting the car isn't needed. The drain happens right there, whether a driveway, a street by Pattishall Parish Hall, or a layby towards Cornhill Wood. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Saint Luke, Cold Higham Church? By a border? Asking is better than assuming, so ring.
For Pattishall people, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Northamptonshire.