AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Rowlands Gill: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
Stop reading a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. In Rowlands Gill, finding it before your motor runs normally means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that is how many modern diesels around Rowlands Gill and Leazes run, with diesel feeding the motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying treats the gas.
There is a filler for each tank. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Rowlands Gill?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a drive off Smailes Lane before work, or in the car park outside Vale of Derwent Social Club on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as readily, and once the pour starts, nothing stops it. It's a few seconds, be it in Sheep Hill or bang in the centre of Rowlands Gill.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in High Friarside or a forecourt in Rowlands Gill, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel inlet? Then check below the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Blaydon, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across Tyne and Wear the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Stirling Avenue, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located the filler and read the cap.
- The two under one flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel filler stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Stop when that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly through the built-in spout.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Leave out step five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Rowlands Gill?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Esso, another forecourt nearby or any forecourt will normally help to push your car clear if you ask. Your own driveway around Rowlands Gill is where it should stay.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Rowlands Gill lies under 10 miles from the Central Motorway East; on it, take the next junction. A short hop across Rowlands Gill is a smaller job than a run towards Newcastle upon Tyne, under 10 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians get there around Rowlands Gill, what takes place?
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, be it outside Rowlands Gill Community Primary School, beside St Barnabas Church or at home, the van travels to it. Our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, because those answers settle the work and our price. On the call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Then the tank is cleared and the system cleaned thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running properly.
If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Rowlands Gill, briefly
Rowlands Gill is a village situated on the banks of the River Derwent in Tyne and Wear, with a mix of semi-detached housing and open spaces. Rowlands Gill has a population of around 1033 residents and is located near other local places such as Sheep Hill and Highfield. Rowlands Gill sits at an elevation of 58 metres, close to the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, which is approximately 6.7 miles away. Rowlands Gill is part of the wider North East region, with London being around 245 miles to the south.
AdBlue drains around Rowlands Gill, and Tyne and Wear beyond
Highfield and Bryans Leap are among the towns near Rowlands Gill, a village, that the same vans cover, throughout NE postcodes. Give a postcode that starts NE39 1, and the van gets there fastest.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Rowlands Gill Library, a lay-by on the way to Derwent Park (Rowlands Gill), a driveway. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Strathmore Road Methodist Church, ring and ask instead of assuming.
For Rowlands Gill drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Tyne and Wear.