Aspull: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the motor hasn't turned, it is emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the car sits in Aspull. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the motor — but many current diesels seen around Aspull and Pennington Green carry a second liquid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have both together behind one flap. Topping up your diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think what filler to use. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Aspull?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Scot Lane before work, or in the car park at The Moorgate on the way home.
New-to-you motors come second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after begun, carries on. It takes seconds, whether in Haigh or right in the heart of Aspull.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Aspull or a driveway over in Top Lock. Seconds, no more.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- On many cars, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- 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 Blackrod.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever in Greater Manchester, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Bolton Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both share a flap, make sure it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and check once more — making sure your diesel filler remained shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop right there. Skip stage five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Aspull?
Do not start your motor: that's where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — BP, Tesco or any other — the staff will normally help push the vehicle away, when you ask. On your own drive around Aspull? So your car remains put.
Already started? Stop when it is safe, then turn off. Leave the M61 — under 3 miles out of Aspull — at the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Aspull is less a job than a run of under 15 miles to Salford, so tell us.
What occurs when our technicians get there around Aspull
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Aspull Church Primary School, near Aspull War Memorial or on your own driveway. Which fluid got in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask because the replies set the work and quote. You get that price on the phone, before anybody heads out.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out unaided. Hence it matters more. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a test of the vehicle. Before we leave, our technicians fire it up and make sure that it is running correctly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor has not run take about half an hour once we are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Aspull, briefly
Aspull is a village in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 129 metres. Aspull lies near the towns of Haigh, New Springs, and Scot Lane End, and is approximately 13.4 miles from Salford. Aspull has a population of around 3367 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Aspull is located in the North West region of England, about 175.9 miles from London.
Aspull and Greater Manchester: AdBlue drains across the area
Aspull is a village, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, New Springs and Scot Lane End among them, across the WN postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a WN2 1 postcode to our van.
The car remains put. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a street by Aspull Methodist Church, or a layby towards The Civic. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of One House Community Centre.
Aspull motorists: the short version
Pour no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere in Greater Manchester.