Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Dudlows Green
Pause here for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Dudlows Green, finding it before the motor turns normally means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single fluid but two: that is how plenty of modern diesels near Dudlows Green and Cobbs carry, with diesel for your engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
There's a filler for every tank. Many of motors share a single flap for both, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think which filler it needs. It is in that gap that the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Dudlows Green?
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Dingle Lane before work, or in the car park outside The Thorn Inn on the way home.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: an unfamiliar motor.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Wrights green or the middle of Dudlows Green: it is the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Hillcliffe or a forecourt in Dudlows Green.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many motors, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Warrington Bank Quay? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Anywhere across Cheshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, motor off, and never rushed by Lyons Lane at the roadside.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems silly. It works.
- Both under a single flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap, then check again — confirm the diesel cap remained shut the whole time. After that, start the car.
Discover at the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Dudlows Green?
Short order, then. Top of it: your motor remains off. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — and so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — Morrisons, Esso or any other — the attendants will normally help push your car clear, when you ask. On your own drive around Dudlows Green? So your car remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. The next exit means where to leave when you are on the M56, under 3 miles from Dudlows Green. A short hop across Dudlows Green is a smaller job than a run towards Salford, under 15 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What takes place when we turn up around Dudlows Green
Anywhere the car has stopped, be it by Broomfields Junior School, beside Appleton Parish Hall or at home, our van comes to it. Our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, since those answers determine this work and our price. You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Draining your tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Next our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before we go.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour visit from arrival. The equipment is fine on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Dudlows Green and where it is
Dudlows Green is a suburban area in Cheshire, situated near the river and characterised by detached housing. Dudlows Green lies close to several nearby places, including Wrights Green, Appleton Park, and Pewterspear. Dudlows Green is located at an elevation of 58 metres, with Salford approximately 14 miles away. Dudlows Green has a population of around 1844 residents.
AdBlue drains in Dudlows Green and across Cheshire
Throughout WA postcodes, the teams covering Dudlows Green — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Pewterspear and Appleton Park included. A postcode starting WA4 5 gets our van to you fastest.
There's no need to move your car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Ford's Rough, a side street close to St Mary Magdalene: we drain the car where it sits. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of St Monica's Catholic Church.
For Dudlows Green people, the short version
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Cheshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.