Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hollins Green: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Hollins Green, finding it before your engine turns normally means draining and a full flush where it stands. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels in Warburton, like those in Hollins Green, carry on two fluids; your motor takes just your diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray treats the gas.
There is a filler on each tank. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have the two side by side under one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in the gap that the error lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hollins Green: how it takes place
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Marsh Brook Close before work, or in the car park at The Red Lion on the way home.
Unfamiliar vehicles are next, too. Rentals, new motors and company motors place their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and after the pour starts, nothing stops it. Hollinfare or the heart of Hollins Green: it is the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Hollins Green forecourt or a driveway out in Glazebrook, spend a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Glazebrook.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Cheshire that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Orchard Brow.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have located your filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went in the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Leave out stage five entirely.
Hollins Green: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Short order, then. First: your motor remains off. Keep the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it by itself runs the pump. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where your fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at the nearest petrol station, Tesco Extra Petrol Station or another forecourt will normally lend a hand to push your car away if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Hollins Green.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Come off the M62 — under 3 miles out of Hollins Green — at the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Hollins Green is smaller work than a trip of under 10 miles to Salford, and so tell us.
When our technicians turn up around Hollins Green, what takes place?
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St Helen's Church of England Primary School, near Rixton Tennis Club or on your own drive. What liquid got in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask since the replies decide both work and quote. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Then your tank is cleared and the system rinsed thoroughly. 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 filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. After that we start the engine and make sure it runs correctly before leaving.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our technicians arrive, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Hollins Green itself
Hollins Green is a village in Cheshire, situated on the riverside at a low elevation of around 22 metres. Hollins Green lies near several small settlements, including Hollinfare, Lane End, and Rixton, and is close to the city of Salford. Hollins Green has a population of approximately 965 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Hollins Green is located in the North West region of England, about 164 miles from London.
Hollins Green and Cheshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout WA postcodes, our teams covering Hollins Green — a village — work the surrounding locations too, Rixton and Lane End included. Fastest of all: quote a WA3 6 postcode for the van.
Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to 22nd Warrington East (1st Hollins Green) Scout Group, a lay-by on the way to Village Green, a drive. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St Helens C of E Church? Close to a county line? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
For Hollins Green drivers, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the pour. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, anywhere in Cheshire: keep the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.