How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Smalley
Leave the engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out just where the vehicle stands around Smalley, is usually all it needs if found before the motor runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels around Morley, as well as Smalley, carry on two fluids; your motor gets only your diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Every tank has a filler of its own. Plenty of cars share a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
Smalley: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up together.
Haste follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Saint Johns Road, or heading home in the car park at The Sitwell Arms.
New-to-you cars come second, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Third, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as readily, and after the pour begins, no part stops it. It takes seconds, whether out in Lodge House Surface Mine or right in the heart of Smalley.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Smalley or a drive out in Smalley Common. Seconds, that's all.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- On many vehicles, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Langley Mill? Check with whoever drove the car last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Derbyshire that is.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, engine off, and not in a rush beside Laurel Crescent on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have located the filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Smalley already?
Short order, then. First: the motor stays unstarted. Keep your ignition off as well, since on many diesels it by itself starts the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or the Texaco, ask the staff to help push the car away from the pump. If you're on your own driveway around Smalley, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. Leave the M1 — under 10 miles out of Smalley — at the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Derby, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Smalley.
Our arrival in Smalley, and what occurs next
Our van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Smalley Baptist Church, or outside Richardson Endowed Primary School. Those answers settle this work and our quote, and so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run. On the phone call itself, you are told our price — before dispatch.
The fuel system is then rinsed thoroughly, once that tank is drained. More than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, some metals corrode, and nothing washes out on its own, however long it is left. The filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a check of the car. Before we leave, our technicians fire it up and check that it's running smoothly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour after our technicians are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Smalley
Smalley is a village in Derbyshire, situated near the River Amber and close to the city of Derby. Smalley sits at an elevation of 143 metres, with the surrounding countryside offering scenic views and walking opportunities. Smalley has a mix of old and new housing, with detached homes being the predominant type, and is located near notable sites such as Lodge House Surface Mine and Smalley Green.
AdBlue drains around Smalley, and Derbyshire beyond
Smalley is a village, and the teams that cover it also work the places near it, Smalley Green and Horsley Woodhouse among them, across the DE postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a DE7 6 postcode for the van.
Your car does not need to shift. Wherever it stands — beside Smalley Boys Endowed School Roll of Honour, on a layby heading to Dobholes Lane Recreation Ground, at home — that's where it gets drained. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Saint John The Baptist Church.
Smalley drivers: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Derbyshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.