AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Woodthorpe: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Around Woodthorpe, catching it before your motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
No single liquid but two: that's what many modern diesels around Woodthorpe and Poolsbrook carry, with diesel feeding the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There is a filler on every tank. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place both side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Woodthorpe
Carelessness seldom causes it. Instead is three things coming up together.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Woodthorpe Road, or outside The Albert Inn on the way home that evening.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places 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 tip once it has started. Whether it occurs in Netherthorpe or the middle of Woodthorpe, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Woodthorpe or a drive over in Castle View. Seconds, no more.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On plenty of cars, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Chesterfield? Ask the person who drove it last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the light appears — anywhere you are across Derbyshire — a routine to follow.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Norbriggs Road.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Stop once your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently through its own spout.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Don't carry on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Woodthorpe?
Do not start your engine: that's where the short order of things starts. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Morrisons, Shell or another forecourt will normally help to push the vehicle clear if you ask. If you're on your own drive around Woodthorpe, leave it where it is.
Already run? Pull over when it is safe, then switch off. Woodthorpe lies under a mile from the M1; on it, use the next exit. A short hop across Woodthorpe is a smaller job than a run towards Sheffield, under 10 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival around Woodthorpe, and what occurs next
Our van reaches the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside The Salvation Army - Staveley, or outside Woodthorpe CofE Primary School. What liquid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because those answers decide both work and quote. On the phone call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Then that tank is cleared and the fuel system purged thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Once the filter is cleaned — or renewed, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally the vehicle is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Woodthorpe, for a moment
Woodthorpe is a village in Derbyshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 78 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Woodthorpe lies near several other small communities, including Netherthorpe, Lowgates, and Mastin Moor, and is approximately 9.9 miles from the city of Sheffield. Woodthorpe has a population of around 799 residents, who enjoy a relatively quiet location. Woodthorpe is also within reasonable distance of major cities, being around 131.7 miles from London.
AdBlue drains about Woodthorpe, and Derbyshire beyond
Over S postcodes, the teams that cover Woodthorpe — a village — work the nearby locations too, Mastin Moor and Lowgates among them. A postcode starting S43 3 gets the van to you fastest.
Your car stays put. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Staveley Welfare Cricket Club, a side street near St John the Baptist: our engineers drain the car where it stands. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Duckmanton Methodist Church, ring and ask instead of guessing.
In short, for Woodthorpe motorists
Pour no AdBlue till you've read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it stands, anywhere in Derbyshire: keep the car off then call 0333 366 0103.