Stainburn: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Normally, when your engine hasn't run, it's drained and thoroughly cleaned where the car sits in Stainburn. Here in advance? In that case the rest covers how it comes about and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to the motor — but plenty of newer diesels driven about Stainburn and North Side carry another liquid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Different tanks, different fillers. 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. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The slip lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Stainburn: how it happens
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and running dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Stainburn Road, perhaps outside The Briery on the way home that evening.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, carries on. Barepot or the heart of Stainburn: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Workington or a forecourt around Stainburn, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — many motors show what goes in which filler right there.
- The handbook shows which it is when your filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Workington, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — anywhere you are around Cumbria — a simple routine to follow.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine stopped, and never in a rush by Moor Road at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but it does the trick.
- The two behind one flap? So make sure the lid on the diesel filler is still shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check once more — making sure your diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third stage that the bottle went in the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Step five stays out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Stainburn?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. Keep the ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts your fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Esso, ask the staff to help push the car clear of the pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Stainburn.
Already run? Stop once it is sensible, then turn off. Leave the Southwaite Services Northbound — under 50 miles out of Stainburn — at the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Stainburn is smaller work than a run of under 50 miles towards Carlisle, so tell us.
What takes place when our engineers arrive around Stainburn
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Seaton St. Paul's CofE Junior School, close to Old Reservoir or on your own driveway. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. You get that price by phone, before anybody heads out.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, after your tank is emptied. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals build up, some metals corrode, and nothing clears out on its own, however long it is left. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We do not leave until it has been started and is running properly.
Unrun vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit from arrival. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet 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. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Stainburn, for a moment
Stainburn is a village in Cumbria, situated near the coast, with an elevation of 43 metres above sea level. Stainburn lies within commuting distance of Carlisle, which is approximately 28.9 miles away, and is close to other nearby places such as Barepot, Low Seaton, and Seaton. Stainburn has a population of around 1676 people, predominantly living in detached housing.
AdBlue drains around Stainburn and across Cumbria
Stainburn is a coastal village, and our teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Low Seaton and Seaton among them, across the CA postcode area. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting CA14 1.
The vehicle stays where it is. Anywhere it sits — beside Workington Hall, in a lay-by heading to Spring Wood, on a drive — that's where it gets drained. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Helena Thompson Museum, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In short, for Stainburn motorists
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Cumbria.