AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Swadlincote: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Swadlincote. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds the engine — but many current diesels seen round Swadlincote and Tetron Point carry a second fluid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have the two side by side under one flap. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think which cap to use. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place in Swadlincote?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running out leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Midland Road, perhaps at The Sir Nigel Gresley on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second thing: a strange vehicle.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, carries on. Whether it occurs in Upper Midway or the middle of Swadlincote, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Newhall or a forecourt around Swadlincote, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Burton-On-Trent, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever around Derbyshire, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Belmont Street, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off first.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have found your filler and read it.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm your diesel filler stayed closed throughout. Only then, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Leave out stage five entirely.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Swadlincote?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. Leave the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts your pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the Sainsbury's or the Morrisons, ask the staff to help push the car clear of the pump. On your own drive in Swadlincote? Then your car remains put.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. On the M42, under 10 miles from Swadlincote, that means the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Derby, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Swadlincote.
Swadlincote: what occurs when our technicians arrive
The van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Swadlincote Town Hall, or by Belmont Primary School. The replies determine this work and our price, so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. On the phone call itself, you are told the quote — before dispatch.
Then the tank is cleared and your system flushed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The motor is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before our engineers leave.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour job after the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and hushed 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. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Swadlincote, for a moment
Swadlincote is a town in southern Derbyshire, situated in the East Midlands region of England, with a population of around 22177 people. Swadlincote sits at an elevation of 101 metres, approximately 10.9 miles south of Derby, and is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Swadlincote is located near several smaller settlements, including Upper Midway, Lower Midway, and Church Gresley, and is about 106.4 miles northwest of London.
Swadlincote and Derbyshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over DE postcodes, our vans covering Swadlincote — a town — work the nearby spots too, Church Gresley and Lower Midway included. Give a postcode beginning DE11 8, and the van arrives fastest.
The vehicle stays where it is. Wherever it sits — near Oasis, in a lay-by heading to Diana Memorial Garden, on a drive — that's where it is drained. Tricky to explain, like the back of Collective Hub? Close to a border? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
Swadlincote drivers: the short version
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around Derbyshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.