Clayton-le-Woods: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Clayton-le-Woods, catching it before the motor runs usually leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels in Clayton Green, like those in Clayton-le-Woods, carry on two fluids; the engine gets only your diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray treats the gas.
There is a filler on every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Clayton-le-Woods: how it happens
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things coming up at once.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Newby Drive, or at The Woodsman on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is a second thing: an unfamiliar vehicle.
No part halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Cuerden or the heart of Clayton-le-Woods: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Be it a Clayton-le-Woods forecourt or a drive out in Worden, take a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- On many vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of cars show what goes in which filler right there.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Leyland? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — anywhere you are across Lancashire — a simple routine to follow.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine off, and never in a rush beside Lancaster Lane on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Stage five stays out.
Clayton-le-Woods: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief list, then. Top of it: the engine stays off. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the Shell or the Trac's Garage, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Clayton-le-Woods.
Already run? Stop once it is safe, then turn off. On the M6, under a mile from Clayton-le-Woods, that means the next exit. A short hop across Clayton-le-Woods is a smaller job than a run towards Preston, under 5 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when we get there around Clayton-le-Woods
By Lancaster Lane Primary and Pre-School, close to Leyland St Ambrose Scout Group or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. We ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because the answers determine the work and the price. The price comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. Hence it counts more. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we leave, our engineers fire it up and make sure that it is running correctly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our engineers arrive, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Clayton-le-Woods and where it is
Clayton-le-Woods is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated approximately 4.6 miles south of Preston and 185 miles northwest of London. Clayton-le-Woods sits at an elevation of around 63 metres, in a gently sloping landscape near the villages of Cuerden and Farington. Clayton-le-Woods is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its development as a residential area. Clayton-le-Woods remains a commuter base for nearby Preston, with its population of around 5410 residents.
AdBlue drains about Clayton-le-Woods, and Lancashire beyond
Turpin Green and Farington are among the places around Clayton-le-Woods, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout PR postcodes. A postcode starting PR25 5 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to move the vehicle. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to St Ambrose, a lay-by on the way to Leyland Golf Club, a drive. Tricky to pin down, like the back of St Ambrose Church Hall? Close to a border? Asking is better than guessing, so ring.
Clayton-le-Woods motorists: the short version
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the car switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Lancashire.