AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Sandylands: How It Occurs and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Sandylands, catching it before your motor turns usually means draining and a full flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the why it occurs and the how to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your engine — yet plenty of newer diesels seen round Sandylands and The Lound carry another liquid too. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray cleans the gas.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Sandylands
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Haste follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Jenkin Rise, or on the way home in the car park outside Duke of Cumberland.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — because a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Sandylands or out in Mintsfeet.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Kentrigg or a forecourt in Sandylands.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Many cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles show what belongs in which inlet just there.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check as you collect a rental or company car — from Kendal's car park, say — not when the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — wherever you are around Cumbria — a routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Sandylands Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Both behind one flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel side is still closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly using its built-in spout.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays off limits.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Sandylands?
Do not start your engine: that is how the short order of things begins. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Texaco, Sainsbury's or another forecourt will usually help to push the vehicle away when you ask. At home around Sandylands? Then the vehicle remains put.
Where your motor has been run already, stop safely then switch the vehicle off. On the M6, under 5 miles from Sandylands, that means the next junction. A short hop across Sandylands is a smaller job than a run towards Lancaster, under 25 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians turn up in Sandylands, what takes place?
Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Castle Park School, close to Cornerstone - Sandylands Methodist Church or on your own drive. Which liquid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because those answers set the work and price. Nobody heads out before you've had the price over the phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough 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 counts more here than with petrol. Filter flushed or, where it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a check of the car. Before we go, our technicians start the engine and check that it is running smoothly.
If your motor hasn't 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 at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Sandylands, briefly
Sandylands is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Cumbria, with a relatively low elevation of 49 metres. Sandylands lies near the towns of Kendal and Lancaster, and is close to smaller communities such as Mintsfeet and Aikrigg. Sandylands has a population of around 4975 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Sandylands is located approximately 223 miles northwest of London, in the North West region of England.
AdBlue drains around Sandylands and across Cumbria
Sandylands is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the places around it, Kendal and Aikrigg among them, across the LA postcode area. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting LA9 6.
Moving the car isn't necessary. Anywhere it stands — beside Castle Street Community Centre, on a lay-by en route to Goose Holme, on a drive — that is where it gets emptied. Awkward to explain, like the back of The Wildman Gallery? By a border? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
In short, for Sandylands people
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere in Cumbria.