Birch Hall: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down for now, leave your ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your motor hasn't run, it's emptied and fully cleaned where your car is around Birch Hall. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it happens and the how to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many modern diesels in Anchor, as well as Birch Hall, carry on two liquids; the engine takes only the diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Different tanks, different fillers. Plenty of cars share a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in that gap that the error lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Birch Hall
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a driveway off Duddon Avenue before work, or in the car park at Anchor Hotel heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
New-to-you motors come next, as well. Hire cars, new cars and company motors place their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes seconds, whether in Hawkshaw or right in the centre of Birch Hall.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Sunnyhurst or a forecourt around Birch Hall.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- On plenty of vehicles, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Darwen, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere around Lancashire, use this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, motor off, and not rushed beside Birch Hall Avenue on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Shut the cap, and check again — confirm your diesel filler stayed closed throughout. After that, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Leave out stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Birch Hall already?
Do not start your engine: that's where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
The staff at Shell, Texaco or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car clear when asked. Your own driveway in Birch Hall is where it should stay.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit is the place to leave when you're on the M65, under a mile from Birch Hall. Mileage matters — a short hop across Birch Hall makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Preston — so tell us about how far it went.
Birch Hall: what occurs when we get there
Anywhere the car came to rest, whether by St Cuthbert's Church of England Primary School, beside St Cuthbert's Church or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — which liquid, what amount, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. The price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Emptying that tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. 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. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we go, we start the engine and check that it is running correctly.
If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. No money in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Birch Hall itself
Birch Hall is a suburban area situated on the riverside in Lancashire, with a mix of terraced housing and a population of around 5122 residents. Birch Hall sits at an elevation of 171 metres, approximately 9.5 miles from Preston and 181.3 miles from London. Birch Hall is located near other local places such as Hawkshaw, Hollins, and Hollins Grove, in the North West region of England.
AdBlue drains around Birch Hall, and Lancashire beyond
Birch Hall is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Hollins and Hollins Grove among them, across the BB postcode area. A postcode starting BB3 0 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to move the car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Darwen Cricket Club, a side street near Darwen Leisure Centre: our engineers drain it where it sits. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St James, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Birch Hall motorists
First, the cap; then, the tip. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, anywhere across Lancashire: switch it off then call 0333 366 0103.