Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fearnhead
Keep your engine and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. In Fearnhead, finding it before your engine runs normally means draining and a full flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels in Padgate, like those in Fearnhead, run on two fluids; the engine takes only the diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place the two together behind one flap. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. It's in the gap that the error lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Fearnhead: how it occurs
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
On a drive off Canada Close before work, or in the car park at The Farmer's Arms heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
No part halts the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Fearnhead or out in Longbarn.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Houghton Green or a forecourt in Fearnhead, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors mark which belongs in which filler right there.
- Can't find it next to the diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says where.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask as you collect a hire car or fleet car — at Padgate's car park, perhaps — rather than once the warning comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever around Cheshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, engine stopped, and never rushed by Fearnhead Lane at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it works.
- Both behind one flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and look once more — confirm the diesel filler stayed shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Fearnhead?
Brief list, then. Top of that: the motor stays off. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll the car away from the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Asda, the BP or somewhere else. On your own drive in Fearnhead? Then the vehicle remains where it is.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M6 — under a mile out of Fearnhead — at the first exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Salford, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Fearnhead.
When we arrive in Fearnhead, what occurs?
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Christ Church CofE Primary School Padgate, near Risley Independent Methodist Church or on your own driveway. Both the work and the price rest on three replies — what fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so we ask. You get that price by phone, before anybody sets off.
Then your tank is drained and the system rinsed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, some metals corrode, and nothing washes away unaided, no matter how long it is left. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. After that our engineers start the car and make sure it runs correctly before we go.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor has not run need roughly half an hour once our technicians are there. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Fearnhead
Fearnhead is a suburban area in Cheshire, situated on the riverside at a low elevation of around 16 metres. Fearnhead is located near several other local places, including Longbarn, Cinnamon Brow, and Blackbrook, and is approximately 11.5 miles from the city of Salford. Fearnhead has a population of around 5424 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Fearnhead is also relatively distant from London, at around 166.6 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Cheshire, Fearnhead included
Being a residential suburb, Fearnhead shares its vans nearby places — Cinnamon Brow, Blackbrook — all the way through WA postcodes and the wider area beyond. Quickest of all: quote a WA2 0 postcode for our van.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Longbarn Park, a side street close to Broomhead Library: we drain the vehicle where it stands. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Padgate Community Centre.
Fearnhead people: the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Cheshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103.