Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Constable Lee: Why It Happens
Keep your engine and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Caught before your motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Constable Lee. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
No single liquid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels around Constable Lee and Spring Side run, with diesel feeding the motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where spraying treats the gas.
Different tanks, different fillers. On a lot of motors 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 on each forecourt visit, again and again. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens in Constable Lee
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
On a drive off Elm Street before work, or in the car park outside The White Lion heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and if it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
New-to-you motors come second, as well. Rentals, new cars and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing halts the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Laund or the middle of Constable Lee, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Reeds Holme or a forecourt in Constable Lee.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it next to your diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Accrington? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever across Lancashire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Hobson Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it does the trick.
- Both behind a single flap? So confirm the lid on the diesel filler stays shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Stop once the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently through its own spout.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Skip step five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Constable Lee?
Do not start your motor: that's how the short order of things begins. Leave your ignition off as well, since on many diesels switching it on by itself starts the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — Shell, Tesco or another — the staff will normally help roll your car clear, when you ask. If you are on your own drive around Constable Lee, leave the vehicle where it stands.
When the engine has been run by now, pull over safely and switch it off. Leave the M66 — under 3 miles out of Constable Lee — at the first exit. A short hop across Constable Lee is a smaller job than a run towards Salford, under 25 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What takes place when our technicians turn up in Constable Lee
Wherever the car has stopped, whether outside Rawtenstall St Paul's Church of England Primary School, beside St James the Less or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — which liquid, what quantity, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. On the call itself, you are told our price — before anything else.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Constable Lee itself
Constable Lee is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. Constable Lee sits at an elevation of 181 metres, near the towns of Rawtenstall and Laund, and is approximately 15.7 miles from Salford. Constable Lee forms part of the wider residential area around Salford, with its population of around 4220 people. Constable Lee is located in the North West region of England, about 177 miles from London.
Constable Lee and Lancashire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Constable Lee has the same vans as surrounding places — Higher Constable, Rawtenstall — all the way across BB postcodes and the wider area beyond. Fastest of all: quote a BB4 8 postcode for our van.
There's no need to move the vehicle. We drain it where it is — a side street near St Paul, a lay-by on the way to Whittaker Park, a drive. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Rawtenstall Market? By a county line? Checking is better than guessing, so ring.
In short, for Constable Lee motorists
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across Lancashire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.