Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tantobie
Keep your engine and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Normally, if your engine hasn't run, it's emptied and fully flushed where the car sits in Tantobie. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Tantobie and Hobson carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of motors have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Tantobie
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Chapel Street before work, or in the car park outside Oak Tree Inn on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in White-le-Head or the middle of Tantobie, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Tanfield Lea or a forecourt around Tantobie, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you collect a hire car or fleet car — at Dunston's car park, perhaps — rather than when the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere around Durham, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Unity Terrace, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Step five stays off limits.
Tantobie: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Do not start your motor: that is where the short order of things starts. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Esso, Texaco or another forecourt will normally help to push the car away if you ask. Your own drive in Tantobie is the place it stays.
When the engine has been run already, pull over safely and turn the vehicle off. Leave the A1(M) — under 10 miles out of Tantobie — at the first exit. A short hop across Tantobie is a smaller job than a run towards Newcastle upon Tyne, under 10 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians arrive around Tantobie, what takes place?
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, be it outside Tanfield Lea Community Primary School, near Tantobie Community Centre or at home, the van travels to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — what liquid, which amount, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. You get that quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
Then the tank is drained and the fuel system purged thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, some metals corrode, and nothing clears away unaided, no matter how long it is left. The filter cleaned or, where needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the car. The motor is started next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before our engineers head off.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor has not run take roughly half an hour once we arrive. No money upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the 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 Tantobie and where it is
Tantobie is a village in County Durham, situated inland at an elevation of 219 metres, approximately 7.9 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne. Tantobie has a population of around 933 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Tantobie is close to nearby places such as White-le-Head, Clough Dene, and Mountsett, and is located in the North East region of England, about 242.6 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Durham, Tantobie included
Tantobie is a rural village, and the vans that cover it also work the places near it, Clough Dene and Mountsett among them, across the DH postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning DH9 9, and the van arrives fastest.
No need to move the car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Tantobie Cricket Club, a side street close to White Le Head Methodist Church: our engineers drain the vehicle where it sits. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Beacon of Light Spiritualist Church.
In short, for Tantobie drivers
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around Durham, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.