Castle Hall: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where the vehicle sits around Castle Hall, is normally what it takes when caught before your motor runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels in Copley, like those in Castle Hall, run on two fluids; the engine takes just your diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have the two together under one flap. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
Castle Hall: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run out means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Kenworthy Street, or outside The British Protection on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where your hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: a new motor.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Castle Hall or out in Stalybridge.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Be it a Castle Hall forecourt or a drive over in Fern Bank, take a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Look for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Stalybridge.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Greater Manchester that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Astley Street.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've found the filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then look once more — making sure the diesel cap remained closed throughout. After that, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Skip stage five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Castle Hall?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the motor. Leave the ignition off as well, because on many diesels it by itself runs the pump. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Tesco or the Texaco, ask the staff to help roll your car away from the pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Castle Hall.
Already run? Pull over when it is safe, then switch off. Come off the M67 — under 3 miles out of Castle Hall — at the next exit. Mileage matters — a short hop across Castle Hall is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles to Manchester — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Castle Hall, and what happens next
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside St. Peter's Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy, close to St Peter's RC Church or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run, because the answers determine this work and the quote. You get that price by phone, before anybody heads out.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears out by itself. That is why it matters more. A test is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or changed if necessary. After that we start it and confirm it runs properly before we go.
Unstarted cars usually mean a half-hour job after arrival. The equipment is fine on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Castle Hall
Castle Hall is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside with views of the surrounding landscape. Castle Hall has a mix of terraced housing and local amenities, and is located near the towns of Stalybridge and the suburbs of Cocker Hill and Bower Fold. Castle Hall sits at an elevation of 137 metres, approximately 7.8 miles east of Manchester city centre.
AdBlue drains across Greater Manchester, Castle Hall included
Cocker Hill and Bower Fold are among the places near Castle Hall, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over SK postcodes. A postcode starting SK15 2 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving the car is not necessary. Anywhere it sits — near Gorse Hall, on a lay-by heading to Gorse Hall, on a drive — that is where it is cleared. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Holy Trinity, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In short, for Castle Hall people
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Greater Manchester.