How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Stanley Moss
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your engine has not turned, it is drained and fully cleaned where your vehicle is around Stanley Moss. Here before the event? Then what follows explains how it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels in Stockton Brook, like those in Stanley Moss, carry on two liquids; your engine takes just your diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of motors 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 fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Stanley Moss: how it takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from your car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Stanley Moss Lane, perhaps at Rose & Crown on the way home after work.
Unfamiliar motors are next, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour once it has started. It takes a few seconds, be it in Stanley Moor or bang in the centre of Stanley Moss.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Bagnall or a forecourt in Stanley Moss.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- On many vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you collect a hire car or company car — at Longport's car park, say — not when the light appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — wherever you are around Staffordshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Stanley Moss Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look once more — making sure your diesel filler remained closed the whole time. After that, start your car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Skip step five entirely.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Stanley Moss already?
Do not start the engine: that is where the short order of things starts. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Shell, Esso or any forecourt will usually lend a hand to push your car clear if asked. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Stanley Moss.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Come off the M6 — under 10 miles out of Stanley Moss — at the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Stanley Moss is less work than a run of under 5 miles to Stoke-on-Trent, and so tell us.
Our arrival around Stanley Moss, and what occurs next
Our van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, near Railway Bridge Pivot, or outside St Luke's CofE Academy Endon. Those answers decide the work and the price, and so our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Nobody sets off before you've heard our price over the phone.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. That is why it matters more. After the filter is cleaned — or renewed, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally your vehicle gets tested. We don't leave until it has been started and is running properly.
Unrun cars usually mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Stanley Moss
Stanley Moss is a small hamlet situated on the lakeside in Staffordshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and a population of around 981 residents. Stanley Moss sits at an elevation of 152 metres, close to the nearby settlements of Stanley Moor and Stanley. Stanley Moss is located near the city of Stoke-on-Trent, approximately 4 miles away, and is part of the wider West Midlands region. Stanley Moss has a relatively small size, but its lakeside setting provides a distinctive character to the area.
AdBlue drains around Stanley Moss and across Staffordshire
Over ST postcodes, the vans covering Stanley Moss — a rural hamlet — work the nearby locations too, Endon and Stanley included. A postcode starting ST9 9 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting your car isn't necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Endon Cricket Club, a side street near Endon Methodist Church: our technicians drain it where it stands. Awkward to explain, like the back of Moorlands Village Hall? Close to a county line? Asking is better than assuming, and so phone.
The short version for Stanley Moss drivers
First, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere in Staffordshire.