Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pinxton: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done right where your vehicle stands in Pinxton, is usually all it needs when caught before your motor runs. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads about Pinxton and Commonside carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There's a filler for each tank. Many of motors share a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think which filler it needs. The slip lives in that gap.
Pinxton: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Victoria Road, or heading home in the car park at Three Horseshoes.
Unfamiliar vehicles come next, too. Hire cars, new cars and company motors put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
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 once it has started. It's seconds, be it in Broadmeadows or right in the centre of Pinxton.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Pinxton forecourt or a drive out in Upper Birchwood, take a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Alfreton? Ask whoever drove it last before you set off, not once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere across Derbyshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Southfields Avenue.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, confirm it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't carry on to stage five.
Pinxton: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief list, then. Top of that: your motor remains off. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Shell or the BP, ask the attendants to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. At home around Pinxton? Then your car remains put.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M1 — under a mile out of Pinxton — at the next junction. Mileage counts — a short hop across Pinxton is a smaller job than driving under 15 miles towards Nottingham — so tell us about how far it went.
What takes place when our engineers arrive around Pinxton
Outside John King Infant Academy, near Pinxton Village Hall and Parish Council Offices or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. What fluid got in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask since the replies set both work and price. No one heads out before you've had the quote by phone.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, some metals corrode, and none of that washes out unaided, however long it is left. The filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. Before we go, we start it and check that it's running correctly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Pinxton itself
Pinxton is a village in Derbyshire, situated on the banks of the River Erewash at an elevation of 119 metres. Pinxton lies near the cities of Nottingham and Derby, and is surrounded by other nearby places such as Broadmeadows and South Normanton. Pinxton has a population of approximately 2219 people, with a predominance of semi-detached housing. Pinxton is located about 120 miles northwest of London, in the East Midlands region.
AdBlue drains across Derbyshire, Pinxton included
Being a village, Pinxton has the same vans as nearby areas — Hall Green, South Normanton — all the way across NG postcodes and the wider area around them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting NG16 6.
Moving your car isn't needed. We drain it where it is — a side street close to World War I Memorial, a lay-by on the way to The Dumbles, a driveway. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St Helen, Pinxton? Close to a border? Checking is better than guessing, and so phone.
Pinxton drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Derbyshire.