AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Westwood: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Leave the motor and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain and a full flush, done right where your vehicle sits in Westwood, is usually all it takes if found before the engine runs. Here before the event? In that case what follows covers how it happens and how to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel feeds your engine — yet plenty of newer diesels driven about Westwood and Toadhole carry a second liquid as well. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Westwood: how it occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Rutland Road before work, or in the car park at The Corner Pin on the way home.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where 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, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. New Westwood or the heart of Westwood: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Be it a Westwood forecourt or a driveway out in Pye Hill, take a couple of seconds on these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check as you collect a rental or fleet car — from Langley Mill's car park, say — not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light comes on — wherever you are across Nottinghamshire — a routine to use.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Palmerston Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Do not go on to step five.
Westwood: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Do not start the motor: that is how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, right where fuel is taken from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the BP or the another forecourt nearby, ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Westwood.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next exit is the place to come off when you are on the M1, under 3 miles from Westwood. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Nottingham, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Westwood.
What occurs when we turn up in Westwood
Wherever the car came to rest, whether outside Westwood Infant and Nursery School, beside St Mary's or at home, our van travels to it. What liquid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since the replies set the work and quote. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once that tank is emptied. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of that clears away unaided, however long it sits. Filter cleaned or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the vehicle. We don't go until it has been started and is running properly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians get there, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. No money upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Westwood itself
Westwood is a village in Nottinghamshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of around 90 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Westwood lies approximately 10 miles from Nottingham and 118 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Westwood is surrounded by nearby places such as New Westwood, Jacksdale, and Barrows Green, and has a population of around 1654 residents. Westwood's riverside setting provides a unique character to the village.
Westwood and Nottinghamshire: AdBlue drains across the area
As a village, Westwood shares its vans nearby areas — Jacksdale, Barrows Green — all the way across NG postcodes and the wider area beyond. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting NG16 5.
Moving the vehicle is not needed. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Miners Welfare, a lay-by on the way to Selston Country Park, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Jacksdale War Memorial.
Westwood motorists: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in Nottinghamshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.