How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Spratton
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Spratton. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads about Spratton and Teeton carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think what filler to use. The mistake lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Spratton
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up at once.
On a driveway off Yew Tree Lane before work, or in the car park outside The Kings Head heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and if it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
Third, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as easily, and after the tip begins, no part stops it. It's seconds, be it in Queens Row or bang in the centre of Spratton.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Brixworth or a forecourt around Spratton.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Many cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook says where it lives when your filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check as you collect a hire car or fleet car — from Long Buckby's car park, say — rather than when the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the light appears — anywhere you are across Northamptonshire — a simple routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Manor Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and check once more — confirm your diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Step five stays out.
Spratton: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Keep your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels it by itself runs your fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — MURCO, BP or any other — the attendants will usually help push the vehicle clear, if you ask. If you are on your own driveway in Spratton, leave the car where it stands.
Where the engine has run by now, pull over safely and switch the vehicle off. On the M1, under 10 miles from Spratton, that means the next exit. Distance matters — a short hop across Spratton makes a smaller job than heading under 25 miles towards Milton Keynes — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Spratton, and what occurs next
By Spratton Church of England Primary School, close to St Andrew's Church or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run, because the replies determine the work and our quote. That price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then that tank is emptied and the system flushed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter cleaned or, where it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of the car. Before we leave, our engineers start the car and confirm that it's running correctly.
If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Spratton, briefly
Spratton is a village in Northamptonshire, situated in the East Midlands region of England, with an elevation of around 122 metres. Spratton lies approximately 66 miles northwest of London and 21 miles southeast of Milton Keynes, near the villages of Queens Row, Little Creaton, and Creaton. Spratton has a population of around 1288 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Spratton remains a quiet, rural community with a strong sense of local identity.
AdBlue drains round Spratton, and Northamptonshire beyond
Being a rural village, Spratton has the same vans as surrounding areas — Little Creaton, Creaton — right across NN postcodes and the wider area beyond. Quote a postcode beginning NN6 8, and our van gets there fastest.
Your car stays where it is. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Creaton Dog Walking Park, a side street close to Spratton Village Hall: our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Spratton Sports & Social Club.
Spratton drivers: the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you have read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Northamptonshire.