Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Whitehills: Why It Happens
Keep your engine and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. In Whitehills, catching it before the motor runs usually means a drain and a full flush on the spot. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to your motor — yet plenty of modern diesels seen about Whitehills and Heworth hold another liquid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both side by side behind one flap. Diesel gets filled at each forecourt call-out, again and again. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
Whitehills: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off White House Way before work, or in the car park at Fiddlers Three on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is a second factor: a new car.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once started, carries on. Whether it occurs in Windy Nook or the middle of Whitehills, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these first, on a forecourt in Whitehills or a drive out in Sheriff Hill. A few seconds, no more.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- On plenty of vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Heworth, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Tyne and Wear that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Celandine Way.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, but it works.
- The two behind one flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel filler stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Step five is out.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Whitehills?
Do not start the motor: that's where the short order of things starts. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the base rather than blending — and that's where your fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Jet, the JET or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Whitehills.
When the motor has run already, stop safely and turn it off. On the A194(M), under 3 miles from Whitehills, that means the next exit. Mileage counts — a short hop across Whitehills is a smaller job than heading under 5 miles to Newcastle upon Tyne — so say roughly how far it went.
Whitehills: what takes place when our engineers get there
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Windy Nook Primary School, close to Whitehills Christian Fellowship or on your own drive. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — which liquid, which amount, and if it's run — so we ask. No one sets off until you've had the quote over the phone.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts 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. We do not leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians arrive, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. No money in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Whitehills
Whitehills is a suburban area located inland in Tyne and Wear, sitting at an elevation of 135 metres and approximately 3.4 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne. Whitehills is characterized by its semi-detached housing and is situated near other local places such as Windy Nook and Beacon Lough. Whitehills has a population of around 4527 residents and is part of the larger urban area surrounding Newcastle upon Tyne.
AdBlue drains around Whitehills and across Tyne and Wear
Whitehills is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Beacon Lough and Wrekenton among them, across the NE postcode area. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting NE10 8.
Your car doesn't need to shift. A drive, a lay-by on the way to White Hill, a side street close to Leam Rangers Football Club: our engineers drain it where it sits. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Springwell Community Centre? Close to a border? Asking beats guessing, and so phone.
The short version for Whitehills people
Always, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere around Tyne and Wear.