Rushden: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, keep your ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine hasn't run, it's drained and fully cleaned where your vehicle sits in Rushden. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
No single liquid but two: that's how plenty of newer diesels around Rushden and Knuston run, with diesel for the motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for every tank. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both together behind one flap. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think what cap to use. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
Rushden: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off College Street before work, or in the car park at Rose & Crown on the way home.
Unfamiliar motors are second, too. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and after the tip starts, nothing stops it. Whether it occurs in Warmonds Hill or the middle of Rushden, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Wymington or a forecourt around Rushden, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Plenty of motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- Can't see it beside the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Wellingborough, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere around Northamptonshire, use this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine off, and never in a rush by George Street on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — after you've located your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Stop once that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently using the own spout.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never came off.
Discover at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Rushden?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Asda or the Texaco, ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump. If you're on your own drive around Rushden, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. Come off the M1 — under 15 miles out of Rushden — at the next exit. Distance counts — a quick hop across Rushden makes a smaller job than heading under 25 miles towards Milton Keynes — so say about how far it went.
Rushden: what occurs when our technicians get there
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Alfred Lord Tennyson School, near The Church In The High Street or on your own driveway. We ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run, since those answers decide this work and our quote. That quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. 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 matters more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We don't go until it has been started and is running properly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine has not run need about half an hour after our engineers are there. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Rushden, briefly
Rushden is a town situated in the East Midlands region of England, on the banks of the River Nene in Northamptonshire. Rushden sits at an elevation of 62 metres, with nearby settlements including Warmonds Hill, Higham Ferrers, and Little Wymington. Rushden has a population of approximately 29671 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Rushden is located 57.7 miles from London and 18.4 miles from Milton Keynes, making it a commuter town with good transport links.
Rushden and Northamptonshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Rushden is a riverside town, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Higham Ferrers and Little Wymington among them, across the NN postcode area. A postcode starting NN10 0 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car does not need to move. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Rushden High Street Church Hall, a lay-by on the way to Hall Park, a drive. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Rushden Salvation Army? Close to a county line? Checking beats guessing, and so ring.
The short version for Rushden motorists
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in Northamptonshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.