Farnworth: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, keep your ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your motor hasn't turned, it is drained and thoroughly rinsed where your vehicle is around Farnworth. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel goes to the motor — but plenty of modern diesels driven round Farnworth and Barrows Green hold a second fluid as well. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have the two side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what cap it needs. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
Farnworth: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Farnworth Street before work, or in the car park outside Ring O' Bells on the way home.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: a new vehicle.
Nothing halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Lunts Heath or the middle of Farnworth, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Upton Rocks or a forecourt around Farnworth.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- On many cars, 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.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Widnes.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — anywhere it is across Cheshire — a routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Farnworth Close.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've found your filler and read the cap.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — confirm your diesel cap remained shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Skip stage five entirely.
Farnworth: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Don't start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the Texaco, ask the staff to help push the car clear of the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Farnworth.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. On the M62, under 3 miles from Farnworth, that means the next junction. Mileage matters — a short hop across Farnworth is a smaller job than heading under 15 miles to Liverpool — so say roughly how far it went.
Farnworth: what occurs when our technicians turn up
The van reaches the car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside St. Lukes, or by Farnworth Church of England Controlled Primary School. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — what fluid, what amount, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. Nobody heads out before you've heard the price by phone.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes away unaided. Hence it counts more. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; then a test of the vehicle. We don't go until it has been started and is running properly.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine has not run take roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Farnworth, briefly
Farnworth is a suburban area in Cheshire, situated near the coast and approximately 10 miles from Liverpool. Farnworth has a population of around 6240 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Farnworth sits at an elevation of 47 metres, looking out towards the surrounding landscape. Farnworth is close to nearby places such as Lunts Heath and Appleton.
AdBlue drains around Farnworth, and Cheshire beyond
As a residential suburb, Farnworth has the same vans as surrounding areas — Appleton, Crow Wood — right across WA postcodes and the wider area around them. Quote a postcode that starts WA8 9, and the van gets there quickest.
There's no need to move the vehicle. Anywhere it stands — near St Luke's Scout & Guide Group, on a layby heading to Birchfield Sports & Social Club, on a drive — that's where it is drained. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Widnes Cricket Club? Close to a county line? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
Farnworth drivers: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Cheshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.