Sturton: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop here for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your engine has not run, it's drained and fully rinsed where your vehicle is in Sturton. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Not one fluid but two: that is what many newer diesels near Sturton and Hibaldstow run, with diesel for the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place the two side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It's in the gap that the error happens.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Sturton: how it happens
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Walnut Drive, perhaps at Sutton Arms on the way home that evening.
New-to-you vehicles come second, too. Rentals, new motors and company motors put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as readily, and once the tip starts, no part stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Sturton or out in Scawby.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Sturton forecourt or a drive over in Greetwell, take a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many cars show what goes in which filler right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Brigg, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever in Lincolnshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and not rushed beside Larch Grove at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, shut the cap and check again that the diesel cap never opened off.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Stage five is off limits.
Sturton: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the JET or the Tesco, ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the pump. On your own drive in Sturton? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next junction is where to leave if you're on the M180, under a mile from Sturton. Distance matters — a quick hop across Sturton makes a smaller job than driving under 25 miles towards Kingston upon Hull — so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Sturton, and what occurs next
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, whether outside Scawby Academy, beside Scawby Village Hall or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Which liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask since the answers decide both work and price. During the phone call itself, you are told the quote — before dispatch.
Then the tank is emptied and your system cleaned thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. That is why it counts more. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Your engine is started next and checked to make sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians head off.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run need roughly half an hour once we arrive. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Sturton and where it is
Sturton is a suburban area in Lincolnshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 25 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Sturton lies near the villages of Scawby and Scawby Brook, and is close to the city of Kingston upon Hull. Sturton has a population of approximately 1279 residents, and is located about 141 miles north of London. Sturton is part of a wider area that includes Mill Place and other nearby settlements.
AdBlue drains around Sturton and across Lincolnshire
Mill Place and Scawby Brook are among the towns near Sturton, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over DN postcodes. Quickest of all: quote a DN20 9 postcode for our van.
The car doesn't need to move. The drain happens right there, whether a drive, a street near St Hybald's Church, or a layby towards Scawby Playing Field. Awkward to explain, like the back of St Hybald's? By a county line? Checking beats guessing, and so phone.
For Sturton motorists, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the car switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Lincolnshire.