AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Lound: How It Happens and How to Stop It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. In The Lound, finding it before your motor runs normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds the motor — yet plenty of newer diesels driven about The Lound and Kendal hold a second liquid as well. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler for every tank. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both side by side under one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in The Lound: how it takes place
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Lound Place before work, or in the car park at Finney's on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: a strange vehicle.
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 tip once it has started. Whether it takes place in Aikrigg or the middle of The Lound, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Sandylands or a forecourt around The Lound.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the flap and check for a label — plenty of motors show which belongs in which filler right there.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Kendal.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Cumbria that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Lound Street, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check again — making sure your diesel filler remained shut the whole time. After that, start your car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Step five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in The Lound already?
Short list, then. First: your motor remains off. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — Shell, Asda or any other — the attendants will normally help push the vehicle away, when you ask. On your own drive in The Lound? Then the car stays put.
When your engine has run by now, stop somewhere safe then turn the car off. Leave the M6 — under 5 miles out of The Lound — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Lancaster, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across The Lound.
When we turn up in The Lound, what happens?
Anywhere your car has stopped, be it by Heron Hill Primary School, beside Dojo or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — what liquid, which amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. The price comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, after the tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Your engine is started next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before our engineers head off.
If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About The Lound, briefly
The Lound is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Cumbria, with a relatively low elevation of 46 metres. The Lound is located near several other small communities, including Aikrigg, Kirkbarrow, and Heron Hill, and is approximately 18.8 miles from Lancaster. The Lound has a population of around 5396 people, who mostly reside in semi-detached housing. The Lound is also a significant distance from London, at around 222.7 miles away.
AdBlue drains around The Lound and across Cumbria
Kirkbarrow and Heron Hill are among the towns near The Lound, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over LA postcodes. Give a postcode beginning LA9 7, and our van arrives quickest.
The car doesn't need to shift. Wherever it sits — near Parkside Road, on a layby heading to Crow Tree Wood, on a drive — that's where it is cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Kendal Parish Hall? Close to a border? Checking is better than guessing, and so ring.
The Lound drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Cumbria.