Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Plains Farm: Why It Occurs
Stop reading a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Plains Farm, catching it before the engine runs normally means draining and a full flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the why it happens and the how to avoid it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
No single liquid but two: that is what many modern diesels around Plains Farm and Farringdon carry, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in at every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what filler it needs. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Plains Farm?
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Pearl Road before work, or in the car park outside The Sportsman's Arms heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
New-to-you motors come next, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once begun, keeps on. Humbledon or the middle of Plains Farm: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Plains Farm forecourt or a drive over in New Silksworth, take a few seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Sunderland, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever across Tyne and Wear, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Plains Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- The two behind one flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel side is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Plains Farm?
Short list, then. First: the motor remains unstarted. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of that tank, just where fuel is taken from.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Sainsbury's, the Esso or somewhere else. Your own drive around Plains Farm is where it should stay.
When your motor has been run already, pull over safely and switch the vehicle off. Plains Farm lies under 10 miles from the Western Highway; there, take the next exit. A short hop across Plains Farm is a smaller job than a run towards Sunderland, under 3 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Plains Farm, and what takes place next
Outside Plains Farm Academy, near The Immaculate Heart of Mary or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — which fluid, which amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. On the phone call itself, you hear the quote — before dispatch.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, after the tank is drained. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Before we go, our engineers start the car and check that it's running correctly.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour once we are there. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Plains Farm itself
Plains Farm is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, situated near the coast. Plains Farm sits at an elevation of 64 metres, with nearby neighbourhoods including Humbledon, Springwell, and High Barnes. Plains Farm is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the typical residential development of the region. Plains Farm is close to the city centre of Sunderland, being only 1.6 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Tyne and Wear, Plains Farm included
Throughout SR postcodes, our vans that cover Plains Farm — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, High Barnes and Springwell among them. Fastest of all: give a SR3 1 postcode for the van.
Shifting the vehicle isn't needed. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Humbledon Hill Quarry (SSSI), a side street close to Humbledon Methodist Church: we drain it where it is. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Defended settlement on Humbledon Hill.
In short, for Plains Farm drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, anywhere in Tyne and Wear: switch the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.