Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Sawley
Keep the motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Usually, if your engine has not run, it's drained and thoroughly flushed where the car sits around Sawley. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the reasons it happens and the how to avoid it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your motor — but plenty of newer diesels seen around Sawley and Church Wilne carry another liquid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Sawley
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
On a drive off Arnold Avenue before work, or in the car park at Railway Inn heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Nothing halts the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. New Sawley or the heart of Sawley: it is the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these first, at a forecourt in Sawley or a drive over in Great Wilne. Seconds, no more.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Long Eaton? Ask the person who drove it last before leaving, rather than once the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Anywhere in Derbyshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Arnold Crescent, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found your filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Finish once that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly through its built-in spout.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays out.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Sawley?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. Leave your ignition off as well, because on many diesels switching it on alone starts your fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Texaco, TotalEnergies or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the car clear if you ask. Your own driveway in Sawley is where it should stay.
When your motor has been run already, stop safely then turn it off. On the M1, under a mile from Sawley, that means the next junction. Distance counts — a quick hop across Sawley is a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to Derby — so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival around Sawley, and what occurs next
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Sawley Infant and Nursery School, near Sawley Baptist Church or on your own driveway. Both the work and our price rest on three replies — what fluid, which amount, and if it's run — so we ask. You hear that price by phone, before anybody sets off.
The fuel system is then rinsed thoroughly, once the tank is emptied. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing washes away on its own, no matter how long it is left. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or replaced as needed. Your engine is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before we head off.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor hasn't run take about half an hour once we are there. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Sawley itself
Sawley is a suburban area in Derbyshire, situated on the banks of the River Trent at an elevation of around 33 metres. Sawley lies approximately 8 miles south of Derby and 107 miles north of London, with nearby places including New Sawley, Trentlock, and Breaston. Sawley has a population of around 4293 people and is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Sawley's riverside setting provides a distinctive feature of the area.
AdBlue drains around Sawley and across Derbyshire
Over NG postcodes, the vans covering Sawley — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Breaston and Trentlock included. Quickest of all: give a NG10 3 postcode for our van.
The vehicle stays put. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Bothe Hall Meadow, a side street near All Saints' Church: our engineers drain the car where it sits. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Sawley Memorial Hall and Community Centre, on a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
Sawley people: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Derbyshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave it off then call 0333 366 0103.