AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Primrose Hill: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
Leave your motor and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Normally, when the motor hasn't run, it's drained and fully purged where your car sits around Primrose Hill. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to the motor — but many current diesels driven round Primrose Hill and Stockton Grange carry a second fluid too. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Primrose Hill: how it occurs
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Mellor Street before work, or in the car park outside The Station Free House heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
New-to-you cars are second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it 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 after it has started. Newtown or the heart of Primrose Hill: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Gilpin Brown or a forecourt around Primrose Hill.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- 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 your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask when you collect a hire car or company car — at Stockton's car park, perhaps — not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere around Durham, use this routine.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and never in a rush by Orde Wingate Way at the roadside.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have found your filler and read it.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly through the built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, then look again — making sure the diesel filler remained shut throughout. After that, start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Primrose Hill?
Brief list, then. First: the motor stays off. Keep the ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on alone runs your fuel pump. Thinning it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Sainsbury's, Esso or any forecourt will normally help pushing your car away if asked. If you are on your own driveway around Primrose Hill, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Already started? Stop when it's sensible, then switch off. On the A1(M), under 10 miles from Primrose Hill, that means the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Durham, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Primrose Hill.
Primrose Hill: what occurs when we turn up
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, whether outside The Oak Tree Academy, beside Newtown Community Resource Centre or at home, our van comes to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — what fluid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. Hence it matters more. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Then our technicians start it and make sure it runs correctly before we leave.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our technicians get there, as long as your engine has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Primrose Hill itself
Primrose Hill is a suburban area in County Durham, situated near the river and characterized by its low elevation of around 10 metres. Primrose Hill is located near several other residential areas, including Newtown and Queens Park, and is approximately 17.7 miles from the city of Durham. Primrose Hill has a population of around 6037 people and features predominantly terraced housing.
AdBlue drains in Primrose Hill and across Durham
Primrose Hill is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places near it, Queens Park and Newham Grange among them, across the TS postcode area. A postcode starting TS19 0 gets our van to you fastest.
Moving the vehicle is not needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Primrose Hill Park, a side street close to Hebron Church: our technicians drain the vehicle where it is. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of St Paul's Newtown - A Church of England and Methodist Church Partnership.
Primrose Hill drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep it switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Durham.