Washington Village: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Pause reading for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the engine has not turned, it is emptied and thoroughly cleaned where your vehicle is in Washington Village. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Plenty of current diesels on the roads around Washington Village and Biddick carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank.
There is a filler for each tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. It is in the gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Washington Village
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Abbey Close before work, or in the car park outside The Black Bush on the way home.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. It's a few seconds, be it out in Glebe or right in the centre of Washington Village.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Hertburn or a forecourt in Washington Village.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it beside the diesel inlet? Then check below the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook says which.
- Check with 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 Heworth.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever in Tyne and Wear the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Lanercost, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off first.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- The two under a single flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel filler stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Step five stays out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Washington Village already?
The short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than blending — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Sainsbury's, JET or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the car clear if you ask. Your own drive around Washington Village is the place it should stay.
Where your motor has run by now, pull over somewhere safe then switch the vehicle off. Washington Village lies under 3 miles from the A194(M); there, use the first exit. A short hop across Washington Village is a smaller job than a run towards Sunderland, under 10 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
What occurs when our engineers get there in Washington Village
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Wessington Primary School, close to Our Lady's Catholic Church or on your own drive. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — which fluid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. That quote is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Then that tank is drained and the system flushed thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, if it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a check of the car. The motor is started next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our engineers arrive, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Washington Village
Washington Village is a suburban area located on the banks of the River Wear in Tyne and Wear, with a mix of terraced housing and local amenities. Washington Village sits at an elevation of 64 metres, approximately 5.5 miles from the city of Sunderland. Washington Village is part of the larger Washington area, which includes nearby places such as Glebe and the Town Centre. Washington Village has a population of around 5319 people, living in a variety of predominantly terraced homes.
Washington Village and Tyne and Wear: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout NE postcodes, our vans that cover Washington Village — a residential suburb — work the nearby locations too, Washington and Town Centre among them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting NE38 7.
The car remains put. Draining happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a street near Holy Trinity, or a layby towards Glebe Park. Guessing doesn't help behind Washington Old Hall, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
Washington Village motorists: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere around Tyne and Wear.