AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hale: Why It Occurs and How to Stop It
Pause here a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Hale, finding it before your engine turns normally means a drain and a full flush where it stands. Here before the event? In that case the rest covers how it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many newer diesels around Westfield, like those in Hale, run on two liquids; the motor takes just your diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
Hale: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Town Lane, or at Childe of Hale on the way home after work.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second thing: a strange vehicle.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Hale or out in Hale Bank.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Hale forecourt or a drive out in West Bank Dock Estate, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Plenty of motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Halewood? Check with the person who drove the car last before leaving, rather than when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever around Cheshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of High Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems silly. It works.
- Both under a single flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel side is still shut before raising the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find during the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Do not go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Hale?
Don't start your motor: that is where the short order of things starts. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
Ask the staff to help push the car clear of the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Morrisons, the Shell or anywhere else. Your own drive in Hale is the place it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. The next junction means where to come off when you're on the M56, under 5 miles from Hale. About how far did it go? Crossing Hale is less a job than a run of under 10 miles to Liverpool, and so tell us.
Hale: what happens when our technicians arrive
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Hale Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, close to Hale War Memorial or on your own driveway. The answers decide this work and our quote, so our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run. You get that price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes away unaided. That is why it matters more. Once the fuel filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where required — clean diesel is added, and then the vehicle gets tested. The engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our technicians get there, as long as your engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. It's worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Hale and where it is
Hale is a small village on the north bank of the Mersey Estuary in Cheshire, with a population of around 1502 people. Hale sits at a low elevation of 19 metres, close to the coast and near the cities of Liverpool and Chester. Hale is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock and is situated near other small communities such as Hale Bank and Oglet. Hale is located within commuting distance of Liverpool, which is about 9 miles away.
Hale and Cheshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Oglet and Weston Point are among the towns near Hale, a coastal village, that the same teams cover, over L postcodes. A postcode starting L24 4 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle doesn't need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Hale Park, a side street close to Hale Village Hall: we drain the vehicle where it sits. Guessing doesn't help behind Childe of Hale, on a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
The short version for Hale motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep it off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Cheshire.