Ashton Hayes: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Ashton Hayes. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel goes to your engine — but many newer diesels seen about Ashton Hayes and Tarvin Sands hold another liquid too. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to fresh it, from a separate tank.
Different tanks, different fillers. On a lot of motors 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 pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. That gap is where the mistake lives.
Ashton Hayes: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off West End, perhaps outside The Golden Lion (closed - under reurbishment) on the way home after work.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. It's a few seconds, whether in Mouldsworth or right in the heart of Ashton Hayes.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Oscroft or a forecourt in Ashton Hayes, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check when you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from Mouldsworth's car park, perhaps — rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever in Cheshire, follow this routine.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, engine stopped, and never in a rush beside Church Road at the roadside.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Stop once your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently using the own spout.
- Close the cap, and check again — confirm the diesel filler stayed closed throughout. Only then, start your car.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went in the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Ashton Hayes?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — BP, Shell or any other — the staff will normally help push the car clear, if you ask. If you are on your own driveway around Ashton Hayes, leave the vehicle where it stands.
Already started? Pull over when it's safe, then turn off. The next junction is the place to come off when you're on the M56, under 5 miles from Ashton Hayes. Mileage matters — a short hop across Ashton Hayes is a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Chester — so say about how far it went.
When our technicians arrive around Ashton Hayes, what occurs?
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Ashton Hayes Primary School, near St. John the Evangelist or on your own driveway. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — what fluid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once the tank is drained. 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. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. After that our engineers start the car and check it runs correctly before we leave.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Ashton Hayes
Ashton Hayes is a small village in Cheshire, situated inland near the city of Chester. Ashton Hayes has a low elevation of around 41 metres and is located approximately 6 miles from Chester, with nearby places including Mouldsworth and Kelsall. Ashton Hayes is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Ashton Hayes remains a quiet residential community with a small population of around 614 people.
AdBlue drains in Ashton Hayes and across Cheshire
Kelsall and Hollowmoor Heath are among the places near Ashton Hayes, a rural village, that the same vans cover, throughout CH postcodes. A postcode starting CH3 8 gets the van to you fastest.
Shifting the car isn't needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Andrew's Wood, a side street close to Ashtpn Hayes Village Hall: we drain it where it stands. Awkward to explain, like the back of St Cuthbert's? By a border? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
For Ashton Hayes people, the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere across Cheshire.