Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Anderton: Why It Occurs
Leave your motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain and a full flush, carried out just where your vehicle stands around Anderton, is usually all it needs when caught before your motor runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many modern diesels in Rivington, as well as Anderton, carry on two liquids; the engine takes only the diesel. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to clean it, from its own tank.
There is a filler on each tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Anderton?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and running dry leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Green Street, or outside Pride of Aggi on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second thing: an unfamiliar car.
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. Adlington or the heart of Anderton: it is the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Anderton forecourt or a drive over in Heath Charnock, spend a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it lives when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Adlington (Lancashire).
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever across Lancashire, use this routine.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Chorley Road.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you have located your filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
Find during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Leave out stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Anderton already?
Brief list, then. First: the motor stays off. Leave your ignition off as well, because on many diesels it alone starts your fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Essar or the BP, ask the staff to help push your car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Anderton.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Anderton sits under a mile from the M61; on it, use the first junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Preston, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Anderton.
When our engineers turn up around Anderton, what happens?
Wherever your car has stopped, whether outside Anderton Primary School, beside The Parish Church of St Paul, Adlington or at home, the van travels to it. Which fluid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: we ask because those replies set the work and quote. On the call itself, you hear our price — ahead of dispatch.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter flushed or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of your vehicle. Your engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before we head off.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour job after arrival. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Anderton
Anderton is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential properties. Anderton sits at an elevation of around 120 metres, approximately 10.7 miles from Preston and close to nearby places like Adlington and Grimeford Village. Anderton forms part of the wider residential area around Preston, with easy access to the city and its amenities. Anderton has a population of around 4791 people, living in a variety of housing types, predominantly semi-detached homes.
Anderton and Lancashire: AdBlue drains across the area
Fairview and Grimeford Village are among the towns around Anderton, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout PR postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting PR6 9.
Your car remains where it is. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a driveway, a road by United Reformed and Methodist Church, or a layby towards King George's Field. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Adlington & District War Memorial, ring and ask instead of assuming.
For Anderton motorists, the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere across Lancashire.