Brookhouse: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, leave your ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the engine has not run, it's drained and fully rinsed where your car is in Brookhouse. Here in advance? In that case the rest covers why it happens and what to stop it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel feeds your engine — yet plenty of current diesels driven around Brookhouse and Halton Green carry a second liquid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
Brookhouse: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off New Street, or heading home in the car park at The Station Hotel.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar motor.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as easily, and once the tip starts, no part halts it. It's seconds, whether in Caton Green or right in the heart of Brookhouse.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Be it a Brookhouse forecourt or a driveway out in Aughton, spend a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Lancaster, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
When the light comes on, anywhere across Lancashire, follow this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Moorside Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop when the tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly using its own spout.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Leave out stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Brookhouse already?
Do not start the engine: that's how the short order of things begins. Keep the ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone runs your pump. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than mixing — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the car clear of the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Station Garage, the Shell or anywhere else. If you are on your own drive around Brookhouse, leave the car where it stands.
Already run? Stop when it is safe, then turn off. The next junction means the place to come off when you're on the Lune Valley Interchange, under 3 miles from Brookhouse. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Lancaster, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Brookhouse.
Our arrival around Brookhouse, and what takes place next
By Caton St Paul's Church of England Primary School, close to Church Hall or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. What liquid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because the replies decide both work and price. On the phone call itself, you hear our price — ahead of anything else.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. That is why it matters more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The motor is started next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before we go.
If the engine hasn't run, most 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 after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Brookhouse
Brookhouse is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of 44 metres, approximately 4.5 miles from Lancaster. Brookhouse is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock and forms part of the wider Lancaster urban area, with nearby places including Caton Green and Caton. Brookhouse has a population of around 969 residents, who enjoy easy access to local amenities and the city of Lancaster.
AdBlue drains in Brookhouse and across Lancashire
As a residential suburb, Brookhouse has the same vans as nearby places — Caton, Crossgill — right through LA postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Give a postcode that starts LA2 9, and our van gets there quickest.
No need to move your car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Caton St. Paul's Church, a lay-by on the way to Caton Sports Field, a drive. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Brookhouse Methodist Church.
For Brookhouse people, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Lancashire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.