Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Skegness: Why It Happens
Pause here a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your engine hasn't run, it is drained and thoroughly purged where your vehicle sits around Skegness. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many newer diesels on the roads round Skegness and Seathorne carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
There is a filler for each tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Skegness: how it takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Haste comes from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Lincoln Road, or on the way home in the car park outside The Red Lion.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
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 after it has started. Whether it takes place in Seacroft or the middle of Skegness, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Wainfleet Clough or a forecourt in Skegness, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside the diesel inlet? Then check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at the nearest station? Ask whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever around Lincolnshire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Algitha Road.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — once you have found the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look again — confirm the diesel cap remained shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Stage five stays off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Skegness?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — Morrisons, Tesco or any other — the staff will normally help push the car clear, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Skegness.
Already started? Pull over when it's safe, then turn off. Skegness lies under 50 miles from the M180; on it, use the first junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Skegness is smaller a job than a run of under 50 miles towards Lincoln, and so tell us.
What occurs when our technicians get there in Skegness
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Skegness Infant Academy, close to Alisons or on your own driveway. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — what fluid, what quantity, and if it has run — so we ask. The quote comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. Hence it counts more. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of your vehicle. Then our engineers start the engine and check it runs properly before we go.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Skegness and where it is
Skegness is a coastal town in Lincolnshire, situated on the North Sea coast. It serves as a major settlement in the area, with connections to nearby towns and cities via road and rail. The town's location makes it a notable destination, with nearby resorts and villages forming a larger urban area. Skegness is also linked to the wider region through its transport links, including a railway station.
AdBlue drains around Skegness, and Lincolnshire beyond
Skegness is a coastal town, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Winthorpe and Bramble Hills among them, across the PE postcode area. Give a postcode beginning PE25 2, and the van arrives fastest.
Your car does not need to shift. Wherever it stands — near Skegness Library, in a lay-by heading to Skegness Cricket Club, on a drive — that is where it gets emptied. Tricky to explain, like the back of Jolly Fisherman? By a county line? Checking is better than assuming, and so phone.
For Skegness motorists, the short version
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, anywhere around Lincolnshire: switch the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.