AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Buckley: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
Pause here for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Normally, when your engine has not turned, it is drained and fully purged where the car is around Buckley. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels in Spon Green, as well as Buckley, run on two fluids; your motor takes just your diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
There's a filler on each tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every forecourt visit, week in, week out. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think which filler it needs. It's in the gap that the slip lives.
Buckley: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The car warns 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 drive off Padeswood Road North, or on the way home in the car park outside The Black Horse.
The old car's filler is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: a strange car.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Buckley or out in Coppa View.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Buckley forecourt or a drive over in Lane End, take a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets 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 lives when the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you pick up a rental or company car — at the nearest station's car park, perhaps — not when the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever around Flintshire, use this routine.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, motor stopped, and never in a rush by Mill Lane on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — once you have found your filler and read the cap.
- The two under one flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel side is still closed before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find during the second or third step that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Do not go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Buckley?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. Keep the ignition off as well, because on many diesels it alone starts your pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that's where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at BP, Texaco or another forecourt will normally help to push your car away when asked. At home in Buckley? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
Where your motor has run by now, stop somewhere safe then switch the vehicle off. Come off the M56 — under 10 miles out of Buckley — at the next junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Buckley is smaller a job than a run of under 10 miles towards Chester, so say.
What takes place when our engineers get there around Buckley
The van reaches the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Buckley Library, or by the local primary school. The replies settle this work and the quote, so our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run. That quote comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals form, certain metals corrode, and nothing washes away unaided, no matter how long it is left. After the filter is flushed — or replaced, where required — clean diesel is added, and finally the vehicle gets tested. We do not leave until it has been started and is running properly.
If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. 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; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Buckley
Buckley is a town in Flintshire, situated inland in northeast Wales, approximately 8 miles from Chester. Buckley sits at an elevation of 157 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Buckley has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant, and the town is close to nearby places such as Coppa View and Nant Mawr. Buckley is also home to Buckley Mountain, a notable local landmark.
AdBlue drains across Flintshire, Buckley included
Throughout CH postcodes, our vans covering Buckley — a town — work the nearby spots too, Buckley Mountain and Nant Mawr among them. Fastest of all: give a CH7 3 postcode to our van.
No need to move the vehicle. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Higher Common, a side street near Buckley War Memorial: our technicians drain the car where it stands. Assuming won't help at the back of Saint John's URC, close to a border, or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
The short version for Buckley drivers
Read the cap before you pour. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, wherever in Flintshire: keep the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.