AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in University: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Stop here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in University. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the why it occurs and the ways to prevent it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
No single fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels around University and Osbaldwick carry, with diesel for the engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where a spray cleans the gas.
There's a filler for every tank. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have both side by side under one flap. Diesel goes in on each filling station visit, again and again. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
University: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car 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 driveway off University Road before work, or in the car park at The Courtyard on the way home.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
No part halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, whether in Heslington or bang in the heart of University.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a University forecourt or a drive out in Foss Islands, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it is if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the 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 outside York, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around North Yorkshire that is.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine off, and never rushed by Innovation Way at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and check again — making sure your diesel filler stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around University?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting your engine. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of blending — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the BP, ask the staff to help roll the car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in University.
Already started? Stop once it's sensible, then switch off. University sits under 15 miles from the A1(M); there, take the first junction. A short hop across University is a smaller job than a run towards York, under 3 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our engineers turn up in University, what happens?
Outside Lord Deramore's Primary School, near Long Boi or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — what fluid, what quantity, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. No one heads out before you've heard the price over the phone.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour after our engineers are there. 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 policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About University and where it is
University is a suburban area located on the outskirts of York in North Yorkshire, situated near the lakeside at an elevation of 18 metres. University sits in close proximity to nearby places such as Heslington and Tang Hall, with Walmgate Stray also in the surrounding area. University is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock and is home to approximately 5276 residents.
AdBlue drains round University, and North Yorkshire beyond
As a residential suburb, University has the same vans as surrounding places — Walmgate Stray, Tang Hall — right across YO postcodes and the wider area beyond. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting YO10 5.
Moving your car isn't necessary. The drain takes place right there, be it a driveway, a road near Norman Rea Art Gallery, or a lay-by towards Heslington Hall Lawn. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Heslington Village Sign, ring and ask rather than guessing.
In short, for University drivers
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout North Yorkshire.