How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ragworth
Pause reading a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where your car sits around Ragworth, is normally what it needs if caught before the motor runs. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it occurs and the ways to prevent it altogether.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many newer diesels around Primrose Hill, as well as Ragworth, run on two fluids; the motor takes only your diesel. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh them, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on each tank. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on many motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel gets filled on each filling station visit, week in, week out. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which cap it needs. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around Ragworth?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a drive off Droitwich Avenue before work, or in the car park at The Centenary heading home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after begun, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Ragworth or out in Gilpin Brown.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Newtown or a forecourt around Ragworth.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook shows where it is if your filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Stockton? Check with whoever drove the car last before leaving, rather than once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever across Durham, follow this routine.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine off, and not rushed by Dorchester Close at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- The two under one flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel side is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: 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 your diesel side. Never carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Ragworth?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Keep your ignition off too, because on many diesels it by itself runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push your car away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the JET, the Sainsbury's or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Ragworth.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. On the A1(M), under 10 miles from Ragworth, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Ragworth is less work than a run of under 25 miles to Durham, so tell us.
When we turn up in Ragworth, what takes place?
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, whether by St John the Baptist Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, beside Ragworth Community Centre or at home, the van travels to it. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask since those answers set both work and quote. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a full flush of your 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 that matters more here than with petrol. Testing comes last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
If the motor 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 after dark. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Ragworth, for a moment
Ragworth is a suburban area located on the riverside in County Durham, with an elevation of around 20 metres. Ragworth sits near the cities of Durham and other nearby places like Gilpin Brown, Roseworth, and Newham Grange. Ragworth has a population of approximately 5819 people and predominantly features semi-detached housing. Ragworth is situated about 17 miles from Durham and 218 miles from London.
AdBlue drains round Ragworth, and Durham beyond
Being a residential suburb, Ragworth shares its vans nearby areas — Roseworth, Newham Grange — right across TS postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting TS19 0 gets our van to you fastest.
There's no need to move the vehicle. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Newham Grange Park, a side street close to St John the Baptist: we drain it where it stands. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Primrose Hill Community Centre, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Ragworth people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout Durham.