Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Blundellsands
Pause reading a minute when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where the vehicle sits around Blundellsands, is usually what it takes if caught before the engine runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels near Blundellsands and Crosby run, with diesel for your engine. 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. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, again and again. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. It is in the gap that the slip happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Blundellsands: how it takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off Nicholas Road before work, or in the car park outside The Royal Oak heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
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 tip once it has started. Brighton le Sands or the heart of Blundellsands: it is the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Blundellsands forecourt or a driveway out in Waterloo Park, take a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- On many cars, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many motors carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to your diesel inlet? Then look below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Blundellsands & Crosby.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere in Merseyside the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Park Drive.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap, and check again — making sure the diesel cap remained closed the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Stage five stays out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Blundellsands?
Don't start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Texaco or the Shell, ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Blundellsands.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Come off the M57 — under 5 miles out of Blundellsands — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Liverpool, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Blundellsands.
Our arrival around Blundellsands, and what takes place next
By Ursuline Catholic Primary School, close to Another Place or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. The answers determine the work and the quote, so our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run. During the phone call itself, you are told the price — before anything else.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your car. The motor is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs correctly, all before we leave.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor hasn't run need roughly 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. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Blundellsands, for a moment
Blundellsands is a coastal suburban area in Merseyside, situated near the mouth of the River Mersey and close to the cities of Liverpool and Bootle. Blundellsands has a low elevation of around 11 metres above sea level and is bordered by other nearby places such as Brighton le Sands and Great Crosby. Blundellsands is predominantly composed of flat housing and is home to a population of approximately 2446 residents. Blundellsands is located about 6 miles north of Liverpool city centre and around 184 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains around Blundellsands, and Merseyside beyond
Blundellsands is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the places near it, Great Crosby and Waterloo among them, across the L postcode area. A postcode starting L23 6 gets our van to you fastest.
The car doesn't need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Berkenshaw, a side street near St Michael's: our engineers drain the vehicle where it stands. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Nicholas's Church, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Blundellsands drivers
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere in Merseyside.