Uffington: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Stop reading a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your motor hasn't turned, it is emptied and fully rinsed where your car is in Uffington. Not happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it takes place and the how to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel feeds your engine — yet many modern diesels driven around Uffington and Belmesthorpe hold 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.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Many of vehicles share a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on each forecourt visit, again and again. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. The slip lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Uffington: how it occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Somes Close before work, or in the car park outside The Bertie Arms on the way home.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
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 pour once it has started. It's a few seconds, be it out in Newstead or right in the centre of Uffington.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Tallington or a forecourt around Uffington, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the 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 Stamford.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Lincolnshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of The Charters, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found the filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both sit under a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Stop when that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour slowly using the own spout.
- Shut the cap, then look again — making sure the diesel filler stayed closed throughout. After that, start the car.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? So stop right there. Don't go on to step five.
Uffington: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Leave your ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Gulf or the Morrisons, ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. On your own drive in Uffington? So your car remains put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. Uffington sits under 10 miles from the Great North Road; there, use the first exit. A short hop across Uffington is a smaller job than a run towards Peterborough, under 10 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Uffington: what takes place when our engineers get there
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside The Uffington Church of England Primary School, close to St Michael and All Angels Uffington or on your own driveway. Both the work and the quote rest on three answers — what liquid, which amount, and if it has run — so our technicians ask. The quote comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Then our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs properly before leaving.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Uffington
Uffington is a small village in Lincolnshire, situated in the East Midlands region of England, with a population of around 504 people. Uffington sits at an elevation of 34 metres, approximately 9.9 miles from Peterborough, and is characterised by its predominantly detached housing. Uffington is located near other villages such as Newstead, Pilsgate, and Northfields, and is about 80.6 miles from London.
AdBlue drains round Uffington, and Lincolnshire beyond
Over PE postcodes, our vans that cover Uffington — a rural village — work the surrounding spots too, Northfields and Pilsgate included. A postcode starting PE9 4 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle does not need to shift. Wherever it stands — beside Uffington Village Hall, in a lay-by heading to Uffington Park, on a drive — that's where it gets cleared. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Stamford Town Cricket Club.
For Uffington motorists, the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, anywhere around Lincolnshire: switch it off and call 0333 366 0103.