AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Stella: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
Keep your motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Usually, when your motor has not run, it is emptied and fully rinsed where the car is in Stella. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels in Stargate, like those in Stella, run on two fluids; your motor takes only the diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
There's a filler on each tank. Some cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place the two side by side behind one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Stella: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off King Oswald Drive, perhaps outside The Runhead Bar & Grill on the way home that evening.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. It's a few seconds, whether in Hedgefield or bang in the centre of Stella.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Lemington or a forecourt in Stella, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it beside your diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Blaydon? Check with whoever drove it last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever across Tyne and Wear the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and never rushed by Addison View at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure the diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. After that, start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Stage five stays out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Stella?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. Leave your ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on by itself starts the pump. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Shell, the Gulf or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Stella.
When the engine has been run already, pull over somewhere safe and turn it off. The next exit means where to come off when you are on the Central Motorway East, under 5 miles from Stella. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Stella is smaller work than a run of under 5 miles to Newcastle upon Tyne, and so say.
What occurs when our technicians get there in Stella
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside St Mary & St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School, Blaydon, close to St Mary and St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church or on your own drive. Our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run, because the answers decide this work and the quote. That price comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Then the tank is cleared and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of it clears away unaided, however long it sits. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. We don't go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run take roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Stella and where it is
Stella is a suburban area located on the riverside in Tyne and Wear, with a low elevation of around 5 metres. Stella sits near the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, approximately 4.9 miles away, and is close to nearby places such as Hedgefield, Newburn, and Crookhill. Stella has a population of around 2117 people and predominantly consists of semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains round Stella, and Tyne and Wear beyond
Stella is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places near it, Newburn and Crookhill among them, across the NE postcode area. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting NE21 4.
The car does not need to shift. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a street near Blaydon Cycle Club, or a lay-by on the way to Addison Woods. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Newcastle University Water Sports Centre, on a border, or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
Stella motorists: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Tyne and Wear.