Hoohill: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. In Hoohill, catching it before your motor turns usually means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Not one fluid but two: that's what many newer diesels near Hoohill and Queenstown run, with diesel feeding your engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Different tanks, different fillers. Many of motors share a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think which filler it needs. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Hoohill
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a drive off Sherwood Avenue before work, or in the car park at The Layton on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: a new motor.
Nothing halts the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Hoohill or out in Warbreck.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Hoohill forecourt or a driveway over in North Shore, spend a couple of seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- On many cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- Can't see it next to your diesel inlet? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Layton.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever around Lancashire, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Chelford Avenue.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- Both under a single flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel side is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm your diesel filler remained closed the whole time. After that, start the car.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to step five.
Hoohill: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it by itself starts your fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not thin it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
The staff at Texaco, Esso or any forecourt will usually help to push the car away when asked. On your own drive in Hoohill? Then the vehicle remains put.
Already run? Stop when it's sensible, then switch off. The next junction is the place to come off if you are on the M55, under 5 miles from Hoohill. A short hop across Hoohill is a smaller job than a run towards Preston, under 15 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Hoohill: what takes place when our technicians turn up
By Layton Primary School, near St Mark's or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Those answers decide the work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it's run. During the phone call itself, you are told our price — ahead of dispatch.
Then that tank is drained and your system rinsed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We do not leave until it has been started and is running correctly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive, as long as your motor has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Hoohill and where it is
Hoohill is a suburban area located on the coast of Lancashire, with an elevation of 19 metres above sea level. Hoohill sits near the cities of Preston and Blackpool, and is close to the nearby places of Warbreck, Layton, and Little Layton. Hoohill is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, and is home to a population of approximately 7400 residents.
AdBlue drains around Hoohill, and Lancashire beyond
Layton and Little Layton are among the towns around Hoohill, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over FY postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting FY3 7.
Your car remains put. We drain it where it is — a side street near Layton Community House, a lay-by on the way to Chepstow Gardens, a driveway. Assuming doesn't help behind Layton Library, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
For Hoohill drivers, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Lancashire.