How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Snaith
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Around Snaith, catching it before the engine runs normally leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels in Gowdall, like those in Snaith, run on two fluids; the motor gets just your diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Snaith
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
On a drive off Selby Road before work, or in the car park at The Plough Inn on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
No part halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, be it in West Cowick or right in the heart of Snaith.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Snaith forecourt or a drive over in Pollington, take a couple of seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- Can't see it next to your diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever you are in East Riding of Yorkshire — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Shearburn Terrace, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Do not go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Snaith already?
Brief order, then. Top of it: the motor stays unstarted. Leave the ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on by itself starts the pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — Gulf, Carlton Service Station or another — the attendants will normally help push the car clear, if you ask. Your own driveway in Snaith is the place it stays.
Already started? Stop once it's sensible, then switch off. The next exit is where to come off when you are on the M62, under a mile from Snaith. About how far did it go? Hopping across Snaith is smaller a job than a trip of under 15 miles to Doncaster, and so tell us.
When we get there around Snaith, what occurs?
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Snaith Primary School, close to St Laurence Priory Church or on your own driveway. Which fluid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because those replies decide the work and quote. That quote comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Then your tank is emptied and the system purged thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more here than with petrol. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. After that our technicians fire it up and check it runs correctly before leaving.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once we arrive, as long as the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Snaith and where it is
Snaith is a village situated on the banks of the River Aire in the East Riding of Yorkshire, with a population of around 2041 residents. Snaith sits at a low elevation of 12 metres, close to the nearby villages of West Cowick, Carlton, and East Cowick. Snaith is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Snaith is located near the city of Doncaster, approximately 12 miles away, and is about 155 miles north of London.
AdBlue drains in Snaith and across East Riding of Yorkshire
As a village, Snaith shares its vans nearby places — Carlton, East Cowick — all the way through DN postcodes and the wider area beyond. Fastest of all: quote a DN14 9 postcode to our van.
The vehicle stays where it is. Anywhere it sits — beside Snaith Methodist Church, in a layby heading to Shearburn Plantation, on a drive — that's where it gets cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Gym? By a county line? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
In short, for Snaith motorists
Before you pour, 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 across East Riding of Yorkshire.