Hollins: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, leave the ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your motor hasn't run, it's emptied and fully rinsed where the car is in Hollins. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it occurs and the how to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels on the roads around Hollins and Anchor 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.
Different tanks, different fillers. Many of cars have a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. It's in the gap that the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Hollins?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and running dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Blackburn Road, perhaps at Anchor Hotel on the way home that evening.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Nothing stops the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Hollins or out in Hollins Grove.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Whether a Hollins forecourt or a driveway over in Livesey Fold, spend a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Open the flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles show what goes in each filler right there.
- Can't see it beside the diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Darwen's car park, perhaps — rather than when the light appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere in Lancashire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Hollins Grove Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The two under a single flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel side is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hollins already?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, right where fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — Shell, Texaco or another — the attendants will usually help roll the car away, if you ask. Your own drive around Hollins is where it stays.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Come off the M65 — under a mile out of Hollins — at the next exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Hollins is less a job than a run of under 10 miles to Preston, so tell us.
Hollins: what occurs when our engineers arrive
The van comes to the vehicle wherever it stopped — your own drive, beside St Cuthbert's Church, or outside Avondale Primary School. The answers decide this work and our price, and so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the fuel system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears out unaided. That is why it counts more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. After that our technicians start the car and check it runs smoothly before we go.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. It's worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Hollins itself
Hollins is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside with a mix of terraced housing. Hollins has a population of around 6031 people and is located near other local places such as Hollins Grove and Hawkshaw. Hollins sits at an elevation of 145 metres, approximately 9.8 miles from Preston and 181.1 miles from London. Hollins forms a distinct residential community within the wider area.
AdBlue drains in Hollins and across Lancashire
Hawkshaw and Birch Hall are among the towns around Hollins, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout BB postcodes. A postcode starting BB3 1 gets our van to you fastest.
The car doesn't need to move. We drain it where it is — a side street near St James, a lay-by on the way to Darwen Cricket Club, a driveway. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Darwen Leisure Centre.
For Hollins drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, wherever in Lancashire: keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.