AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hala: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, keep your ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where the vehicle stands around Hala, is usually all it needs when caught before your engine runs. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it takes place and the how to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single liquid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels near Hala and Bailrigg run, with diesel for the motor. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Hala?
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
On a driveway off Hala Hill before work, or in the car park at Fox and Goose heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as readily, and once the pour begins, no part stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Hala or out in Scotforth.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Whether a Hala forecourt or a drive out in The Greaves, spend a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you 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 outside Lancaster.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever across Lancashire, use this routine.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside Gressingham Walk on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The two behind a single flap? Then make sure the cap on the diesel side stays shut before lifting the bottle.
- Finish once your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly through the own spout.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Leave out stage five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hala?
Short order, then. First: your engine stays unstarted. Keep your ignition off too, since on many diesels it alone starts the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, right where fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — BP, JET or another — the attendants will usually help roll the car away, when you ask. Your own drive in Hala is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. The next junction is where to come off when you're on the M6, under a mile from Hala. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Hala is smaller work than a trip of under 3 miles towards Lancaster, so say.
What occurs when we get there around Hala
Outside Moorside Primary School, close to St Paul's Worship & Community Centre or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the price rest on three replies — what liquid, what quantity, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once your tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We don't go until it has been started and is running properly.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Hala and where it is
Hala is a suburban area situated near the city of Lancaster in Lancashire, with Hala being close to the coastal plains of the North West region. Hala sits at an elevation of 71 metres, looking out towards the surrounding countryside and the nearby suburbs of Scotforth and Bowerham. Hala is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, which reflects the typical residential development of the area.
Hala and Lancashire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Hala has the same vans as nearby places — Newlands, Bowerham — all the way through LA postcodes and the wider area beyond. Quickest of all: give a LA1 4 postcode for our van.
Your car remains where it is. Anywhere it sits — near Barton Road Community Centre, on a layby en route to Barton Road Playing Field, on a drive — that is where it gets emptied. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St Paul's Parish Hall? By a county line? Checking beats assuming, and so phone.
In short, for Hala people
Pour nothing until you have read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Lancashire.