Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hindsford
Stop here for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Hindsford, catching it before the engine turns normally means a drain and a full flush where it stands. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the reasons it happens and the how to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many modern diesels on the roads around Hindsford and Higher Folds carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank comes with a filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump happens all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. That gap is where the error lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Hindsford
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off West Street, or outside The Edge on the way home that evening.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and once the tip starts, no part stops it. Whether it happens in Tyldesley or the middle of Hindsford, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Hag Fold or a forecourt in Hindsford, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it lives if your filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Atherton? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than once the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, wherever around Greater Manchester, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Mill Street, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, yet it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Step five stays off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Hindsford?
Brief order, then. Top of it: the engine stays unstarted. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Tesco, BP or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing your car clear if you ask. Your own driveway around Hindsford is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Leave the M61 — under 3 miles out of Hindsford — at the first exit. Mileage counts — a short hop across Hindsford makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles to Salford — so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our technicians arrive in Hindsford, what occurs?
Wherever the car came to rest, be it by Hindsford CofE Primary School, beside St Anne's Church Hindsford or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Those answers decide the work and the quote, and so we ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. The quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. After that we start the car and make sure it runs correctly before leaving.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Hindsford
Hindsford is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 57 metres. Hindsford lies near the cities of Salford and Manchester, with nearby places including Tyldesley, Shakerley, and Atherton. Hindsford has a population of approximately 4423 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Hindsford is located about 170 miles northwest of London, in the North West region of England.
AdBlue drains in Hindsford and across Greater Manchester
Shakerley and Atherton are among the places around Hindsford, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over M postcodes. Give a postcode that starts M46 9, and our van arrives fastest.
There's no need to move the vehicle. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near St George's Church, a lay-by on the way to Hope Park, a drive. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Tyldesley Little Theatre.
For Hindsford drivers, the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it stands, anywhere in Greater Manchester: switch the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.