AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hartwood: Why It Happens and How to Stop It
Leave the motor and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Around Hartwood, catching it before the engine turns usually means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it happens and the how to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Many current diesels on the roads around Hartwood and Astley Village carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of cars have a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The slip lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hartwood: how it occurs
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your 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 Drumhead Road before work, or in the car park outside Hartwood Hall on the way home.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Hartwood or out in Great Knowley.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Knowley or a forecourt in Hartwood.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Chorley, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever in Lancashire, use this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Maple Grove.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found your filler and read the cap.
- Both behind one flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel side stays closed before raising the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and check a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
Find at the second or third stage that the bottle went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hartwood already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Shell, BP or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car clear if asked. Your own driveway in Hartwood is the place it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. On the M61, under a mile from Hartwood, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Hartwood is smaller a job than a trip of under 10 miles towards Preston, and so tell us.
When our engineers get there in Hartwood, what takes place?
The van reaches your car anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, near Preston and Chorley Stake Centre, or outside St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Chorley. Which fluid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask since those replies decide both work and price. Nobody heads out before you have had the price by phone.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes away by itself. Hence it matters more. After the filter is cleaned — or replaced, if required — clean diesel is added, and finally your vehicle is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before our engineers go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our engineers get there, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps we use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark beside a house. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It is worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Hartwood itself
Hartwood is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside with an elevation of around 104 metres. Hartwood lies near the cities of Preston and other nearby places such as Great Knowley, Little Knowley, and Lucas Green. Hartwood has a population of approximately 2216 people and predominantly consists of semi-detached housing. Hartwood is located about 6.9 miles from Preston and 182.5 miles from London.
AdBlue drains round Hartwood, and Lancashire beyond
Being a residential suburb, Hartwood has the same vans as nearby places — Little Knowley, Lucas Green — all the way across PR postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting PR6 7 gets the van to you fastest.
The car stays put. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Preston England Temple, a lay-by on the way to Buckshaw Community Pond, a drive. Guessing won't help at the back of Strawberry Fields Swim Academy, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
For Hartwood people, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Lancashire.