Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Birchwood: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. In Birchwood, finding it before the motor turns usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it takes place and the how to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Birchwood and Birchwood Park carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the pump happens all the time. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. The slip lives in that gap.
Birchwood: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Dewhurst Road, or on the way home in the car park at The Peacock.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand gets to 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, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. Whether it happens in Birchwood Centre or the middle of Birchwood, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Longbarn or a forecourt in Birchwood, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Check as you pick up a rental or company car — from the nearest station's car park, say — rather than once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Cheshire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Oakwood Gate Roundabout.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Stop once that tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently through its own spout.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Birchwood?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Leave your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone runs your pump. Thinning it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that's where your fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at BP, Asda or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the vehicle away if you ask. At home in Birchwood? Then your car remains put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit means where to come off if you are on the M6, under a mile from Birchwood. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Salford, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Birchwood.
Our arrival around Birchwood, and what takes place next
By Locking Stumps Community Primary School, near Birchwood Leisure & Tennis Centre or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. What fluid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: we ask since those answers set both work and price. During the call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of anything else.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, after that 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 the flush counts more here than with petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after we arrive, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Birchwood itself
Birchwood is a suburban area in Cheshire, situated on the riverside with an elevation of around 23 metres. Birchwood lies approximately 10 miles from Salford and is part of the wider North West region, with nearby places including Birchwood Centre, Locking Stumps, and Oakwood. Birchwood has a population of around 3046 people and predominantly consists of semi-detached housing. Birchwood is located about 166 miles from London, making it a relatively distant suburb from the capital city.
AdBlue drains across Cheshire, Birchwood included
Birchwood is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Locking Stumps and Oakwood among them, across the WA postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting WA3 7.
The car does not need to shift. Draining takes place right there, be it a drive, a road near Birchwood Library, or a lay-by on the way to Walled Garden. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Birchwood Youth & Community Centre.
For Birchwood people, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around Cheshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave it off and call 0333 366 0103.