South Bank: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, leave your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done right where your vehicle sits around South Bank, is normally all it takes if caught before the motor runs. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one liquid but two: that is how plenty of modern diesels around South Bank and Holgate run, with diesel feeding your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
There is a filler for every tank. Plenty of motors have a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the error happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around South Bank: how it takes place
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from your car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Knavesmire Road, perhaps outside The Knavesmire on the way home after work.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
Lastly, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as readily, and once the pour begins, nothing stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of South Bank or out in Clementhorpe.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Middlethorpe or a forecourt around South Bank.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- On plenty of motors, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is when your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside York, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere you are in North Yorkshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Curzon Terrace.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- The two behind one flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel filler stays shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in South Bank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — so leave it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — Applegreen, Tesco or any other — the attendants will normally help roll the car away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around South Bank.
Already run? Pull over once it's sensible, then turn off. Leave the A1(M) — under 15 miles out of South Bank — at the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing South Bank is less work than a run of under 3 miles towards York, and so tell us.
When our engineers turn up around South Bank, what occurs?
Outside Knavesmire Primary School, near St Chad's Church Hall or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. The answers settle this work and our price, and so we ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run. That quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then your tank is emptied and the system purged thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Once your filter is flushed — or renewed, where required — clean diesel goes in, and finally the vehicle gets tested. The motor is started next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before we leave.
Unstarted cars usually mean a half-hour job from arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About South Bank, for a moment
South Bank is a suburban area located on the riverside in North Yorkshire, sitting at an elevation of 13 metres and approximately 1.3 miles from the city of York. South Bank is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing and forms part of the wider York urban area, with nearby places including Clementhorpe, Dringhouses, and Knavesmire. South Bank has a population of around 5632 residents and is situated near the confluence of the Ouse and Foss rivers.
South Bank and North Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Dringhouses and Knavesmire are among the places near South Bank, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over YO postcodes. A postcode starting YO23 1 gets the van to you fastest.
The car does not need to shift. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to St Chad on the Knavesmire, a lay-by on the way to Little Knavesmire, a drive. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Ovington Cricket Club Pavilion, ring and ask rather than assuming.
South Bank drivers: the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout North Yorkshire.