Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Holt: Why It Occurs
Leave your motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain and a full flush, done right where the car stands around Holt, is normally what it takes if found before the engine runs. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Holt and Brown Edge carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt call-out, again and again. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. It is in that gap that the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Holt?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Saint Winifred Road, or heading home in the car park outside The Holt Inn.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand gets to 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, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Holt or out in Rainhill.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Holt forecourt or a driveway out in Grange Park, take a couple of seconds on these before any is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Rainhill? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, not once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
The day the light goes on, anywhere across Merseyside, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Amanda Road, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located the filler and read the cap.
- The two behind one flap? So make sure the lid on your diesel filler is still closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is 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 the vehicle.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Leave out step five entirely.
Holt: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The short order of things, starting with not starting your engine. Leave your ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts your pump. Thinning it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that's where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Shell, Texaco or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car clear if you ask. Your own drive in Holt is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next junction is the place to come off when you are on the M62, under 3 miles from Holt. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Liverpool, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Holt.
What occurs when our engineers turn up in Holt
The van comes to the car wherever it stopped — your own drive, near Rainhill Village Hall, or outside Longton Lane Community Primary School. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — which fluid, what quantity, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is emptied. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out by itself. That is why it matters more. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The motor is started next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our engineers leave.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine hasn't run need about half an hour once we are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Holt, for a moment
Holt is a suburban area in Merseyside, situated inland at an elevation of 72 metres, approximately 8 miles from Liverpool. Holt forms part of the larger Liverpool urban area, with nearby places including Rainhill, Eccleston Park, and Portico. Holt has a population of around 7100 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains round Holt, and Merseyside beyond
Over L postcodes, our teams that cover Holt — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Portico and Eccleston Park included. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting L35 8.
There's no need to shift your car. The drain takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a street near Robert Foulkes Centre, or a layby towards Rainhill Rocket Football Club Home Ground. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Millenium Centre.
In short, for Holt drivers
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Merseyside.