Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cloughfold
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, leave your ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where the vehicle stands around Cloughfold, is usually what it takes if found before the engine runs. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel goes to your motor — but plenty of newer diesels seen around Cloughfold and Staghills hold another fluid too. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on each forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Cloughfold?
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off North Road before work, or in the car park outside Cloughfold Conservative Club on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after started, carries on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Cloughfold or out in Lower Cloughfold.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Spring Side or a forecourt around Cloughfold.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Check as you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Accrington's car park, say — not when the light appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — anywhere it is in Lancashire — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Heys Close, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — once you have located the filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop when your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly through its built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, and look again — making sure your diesel cap remained shut the whole time. After that, start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Cloughfold?
Don't start the engine: that's how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — Texaco, Shell or another — the staff will usually help push the car away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Cloughfold.
Where the engine has run already, stop somewhere safe and switch the car off. Leave the M66 — under 3 miles out of Cloughfold — at the first junction. Distance matters — a quick hop across Cloughfold is a smaller job than driving under 25 miles towards Salford — so tell us about how far it went.
Cloughfold: what takes place when we turn up
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Rawtenstall Newchurch Church of England Primary School, close to Marl Pits Leisure Centre or on your own driveway. Both the work and the price rest on three replies — what fluid, what amount, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. That quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, after the tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it washes out unaided. Hence it matters more. The filter cleaned or, if needed, replaced; clean diesel in; then a check of your car. Before we go, our technicians fire it up and check that it is running properly.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine hasn't run need roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Cloughfold and where it is
Cloughfold is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 182 metres. Cloughfold forms part of a larger residential area that includes nearby Lower Cloughfold, Hareholme, and Higher Cloughfold. Cloughfold has a population of approximately 2465 people and is characterised by predominantly terraced housing. Cloughfold is located near Salford, which is 15.1 miles away, and is about 176 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, Cloughfold included
Hareholme and Higher Cloughfold are among the places around Cloughfold, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over BB postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BB4 7.
Your car stays put. We drain it where it is — a side street near Rawtenstall Cricket Club, a lay-by on the way to Fall barn park, a driveway. Guessing doesn't help behind St Nicholas with St John & St Michael, on a boundary, or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
In short, for Cloughfold motorists
Pour nothing till you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in Lancashire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.