AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Thorntree: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the motor hasn't turned, it is drained and fully rinsed where your car sits in Thorntree. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to the motor — yet plenty of current diesels seen about Thorntree and Normanby hold another fluid too. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from a separate tank.
There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Thorntree: how it happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off Roworth Road before work, or in the car park at the pub in the village heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, carries on. It takes seconds, whether out in Brambles Farm or bang in the heart of Thorntree.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Ormesby or a forecourt around Thorntree, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Many cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of cars mark which goes in which inlet just there.
- The handbook says which it lives if the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at James Cook University Hospital, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
For the day the warning comes on — wherever you are across North Yorkshire — a simple routine to use.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not rushing on the side of Sefton Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, but 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.
- Finish once the tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, tip slowly through its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Don't go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Thorntree already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Morrisons, ask the attendants to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Thorntree.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the A1(M), under 15 miles from Thorntree, that means the next junction. Mileage counts — a short hop across Thorntree is a smaller job than heading under 25 miles towards Durham — so say about how far it went.
Our arrival around Thorntree, and what happens next
By Thorntree Academy, near Beresford Buildings or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. What fluid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask since the answers decide the work and quote. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of dispatch.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter flushed or, where needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a check of the car. We do not leave until it has been started and is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our technicians arrive, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Thorntree itself
Thorntree is a suburban area located on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Thorntree sits at a relatively low elevation of 17 metres above sea level, near the mouth of the river. Thorntree is close to several nearby places, including Brambles Farm, Teesville, and Pallister, and is situated approximately 22 miles from the city of Durham. Thorntree has a population of around 6685 people, making it a small but established community.
Thorntree and North Yorkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over TS postcodes, our teams covering Thorntree — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Pallister and Teesville among them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting TS3 9.
Shifting the car is not needed. The drain takes place right there, be it a driveway, a street by Corpus Christi Church Thorntree, or a layby on the way to Thorntree Park. Awkward to explain, like the back of Skippers Lane Ind. Est. Stone? By a border? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
The short version for Thorntree people
Pour nothing till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere around North Yorkshire.