How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Scalby
Keep the motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. In Scalby, catching it before the engine turns usually means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the engine — yet plenty of modern diesels seen around Scalby and Newlands carry a second fluid as well. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the gas.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. The slip lives in that gap.
Scalby: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Church Hill before work, or in the car park at The Nags Head on the way home.
New-to-you cars are second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, carries on. It's seconds, be it in Newby or right in the heart of Scalby.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Barrowcliff or a forecourt in Scalby.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Scarborough.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever it is across North Yorkshire — a simple routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of High Street, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It works.
- Both behind one flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel side is still closed before raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap never came off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Leave out stage five entirely.
Scalby: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Do not start the engine: that is how the short order of things begins. Keep your ignition off too, since on many diesels switching it on by itself runs your fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help push your car away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the JET, the Gulf or somewhere else. If you're on your own driveway around Scalby, leave the car where it sits.
Already started? Pull over when it is safe, then turn off. Come off the Petuaria Way — under 50 miles out of Scalby — at the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Scalby is less a job than a run of under 50 miles towards York, so tell us.
Scalby: what occurs when our engineers turn up
By Newby and Scalby Academy, close to Scalby Methodist Hall or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our engineers come to it. What fluid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: we ask because those replies set both work and price. That price comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes out on its own, no matter how long it sits. After the fuel filter is flushed — or renewed, if needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally your vehicle gets tested. Next our technicians start the car and confirm it runs smoothly before we go.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is fine on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. No money in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Scalby
Scalby is a small village on the coast of North Yorkshire, situated near the towns of Newby and Throxenby, with Lady Ediths to the south. Scalby has a population of around 977 residents and is characterised by detached housing. Scalby sits at an elevation of 53 metres, looking out over the coastal landscape. Scalby is located approximately 34.7 miles from the city of York and 193.4 miles from London.
AdBlue drains about Scalby, and North Yorkshire beyond
Throxenby and Lady Ediths are among the places near Scalby, a coastal village, that the same vans cover, throughout YO postcodes. Quickest of all: give a YO13 0 postcode for our van.
The car stays where it is. The drain takes place right there, be it a drive, a street by St Laurence, or a layby on the way to Low Wood. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Newby & Scalby Community Hall.
Scalby motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it stands, wherever around North Yorkshire: keep the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.