How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pennywell
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where the car sits in Pennywell, is normally all it takes if caught before your engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the reasons it occurs and the how to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels around North Hylton, as well as Pennywell, run on two fluids; the engine takes just the diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors have a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Far less often, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Pennywell?
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Peasemoor Road, or heading home in the car park outside Jolly Potter.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: a strange motor.
Nothing halts the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. South Hylton or the heart of Pennywell: it takes the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these first, at a forecourt in Pennywell or a driveway out in Ford. A few seconds, that's all.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to your diesel inlet? Then check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check when you collect a hire car or company car — at Sunderland's car park, perhaps — not once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Anywhere around Tyne and Wear the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Rowan Close, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off first.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Leave out step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Pennywell?
Do not start the engine: that is how the short order of things starts. Keep the ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on alone runs the pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Shell, ask the staff to help push the car clear of the pump. If you're on your own driveway around Pennywell, leave it where it sits.
Where your motor has been run by now, pull over safely and switch it off. Pennywell lies under 5 miles from the Western Highway; on it, take the first junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Sunderland, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Pennywell.
Pennywell: what occurs when our technicians turn up
Our van comes to your car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside St. Anne and Holy Family, or outside St Anne's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Primary School. Which fluid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask since the replies set the work and quote. On the phone call itself, you hear the price — ahead of anything else.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter flushed or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. Before we leave, we start the engine and check that it's running correctly.
If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Pennywell, briefly
Pennywell is a suburban area located on the riverside in Tyne and Wear, with an elevation of 69 metres above sea level. Pennywell sits approximately 2.4 miles from Sunderland city centre and is surrounded by nearby places such as South Hylton, Hastings Hill, and Grindon. Pennywell has a population of around 6449 residents and predominantly features semi-detached housing. Pennywell is situated in the North East region of England, about 240.6 miles north of London.
AdBlue drains around Pennywell and across Tyne and Wear
Over SR postcodes, our vans covering Pennywell — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Grindon and Hastings Hill included. Quote a postcode that starts SR4 0, and the van gets there quickest.
Shifting your car is not necessary. Draining happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a road by Pennywell Youth Project, or a lay-by on the way to Pennywell Park. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Pennywell Neighbourhood Centre, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Pennywell drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Tyne and Wear, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.