How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fairview
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Fairview, catching it before the motor turns normally means a drain and a full flush where it stands. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel feeds the motor — but plenty of current diesels driven about Fairview and Heath Charnock hold a second fluid as well. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place the two side by side behind one flap. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Fairview
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Haste follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Lancaster Place, or on the way home in the car park outside Cardwell Arms.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
No part stops the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Fairview or out in Adlington.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Fairview forecourt or a drive out in Rivington, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook says where it lives if the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you pick up a hire car or company car — from Adlington (Lancashire)'s car park, perhaps — not when the light appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
On the day the warning appears — wherever it is across Lancashire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of The Avenue.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently using the own spout.
- Shut the cap, and check again — making sure the diesel filler remained shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Never carry on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Fairview?
Short list, then. Top of it: the engine remains unstarted. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the car away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Essar, the BP or anywhere else. At home around Fairview? So the vehicle remains where it is.
Where the motor has run already, pull over somewhere safe and switch the car off. On the M61, under a mile from Fairview, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Fairview is smaller a job than a trip of under 15 miles towards Preston, and so say.
What occurs when we arrive in Fairview
The van reaches your car anywhere it stopped — your own drive, beside The Parish Church of St Paul, Adlington, or by Anderton Primary School. Our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run, because those replies settle this work and the quote. That quote comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. Then we start the engine and make sure it runs smoothly before we leave.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Fairview, briefly
Fairview is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside with an elevation of 119 metres, and is located approximately 10.5 miles from Preston. Fairview has a population of around 5046 people and predominantly features semi-detached housing. Fairview is part of the wider North West region, with nearby places including Adlington, Anderton, and Grimeford Village. Fairview is also relatively distant from London, at around 179.1 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Fairview and across Lancashire
As a residential suburb, Fairview shares its vans nearby areas — Anderton, Grimeford Village — all the way across PR postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quickest of all: give a PR6 9 postcode to our van.
The vehicle remains where it is. Anywhere it stands — beside Fairview Youth & Community Centre, on a lay-by heading to King George's Field, on a drive — that is where it gets emptied. Guessing won't help at the back of United Reformed and Methodist Church, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and check.
Fairview motorists: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere in Lancashire.