Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chapeltown: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, keep your ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where the car stands around Chapeltown, is usually all it takes when caught before the motor runs. Here in advance? Then what follows covers how it happens and how to stop it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
No single liquid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels near Chapeltown and Bromley Cross run, with diesel feeding your engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. Other cars put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both together behind one flap. Diesel gets filled on each filling station visit, again and again. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. That gap is where the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur around Chapeltown?
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Chapel Fields before work, or in the car park outside Chetham Arms on the way home.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, keeps on. It's seconds, whether out in Turton Bottoms or right in the heart of Chapeltown.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Chapeltown or a drive out in Cox Green. Seconds, no more.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- On plenty of motors, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of cars show what belongs in each filler just there.
- Can't find it beside your diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Entwistle.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere in Lancashire, use this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of High Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two share a flap, confirm it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Do not go on to step five.
Chapeltown: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief list, then. Top of that: your engine remains unstarted. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at BP, Morrisons or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing your car away when asked. If you're on your own drive in Chapeltown, leave the car where it stands.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Chapeltown sits under 5 miles from the M66; on it, use the next exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Chapeltown is smaller a job than a trip of under 15 miles to Salford, and so say.
Our arrival in Chapeltown, and what happens next
Anywhere the car came to rest, be it outside Turton and Edgworth CofE/Methodist Primary School, near St Anne's Church or at home, the van travels to it. Those answers decide this work and the quote, and so our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run. You get that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that clears out by itself. That is why it matters more. After the filter is cleaned — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then your car is tested. Before we leave, our technicians start the car and confirm that it's running properly.
If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Chapeltown itself
Chapeltown is a small village in Lancashire, situated on the shores of a lake at an elevation of 184 metres. Chapeltown lies near the towns of Turton Bottoms, Edgworth, and Entwistle, and is approximately 11.7 miles from the city of Salford. Chapeltown has a population of around 572 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Chapeltown is located in the North West region of England, about 175.5 miles from London.
AdBlue drains in Chapeltown and across Lancashire
Throughout BL postcodes, our vans covering Chapeltown — a village — work the surrounding spots too, Entwistle and Edgworth among them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BL7 0.
Your car doesn't need to move. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Turton Tower, a lay-by on the way to Hazelhurst Wood, a drive. Guessing won't help at the back of Edgworth Methodist Church, on a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
The short version for Chapeltown motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Lancashire.