Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ingol: Why It Happens
Stop here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine has not turned, it is drained and fully rinsed where the vehicle sits in Ingol. Not happened yet? Further down, the page explains the why it occurs and the how to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads about Ingol and Nog Tow carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Many of vehicles share a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think which filler it needs. It's in the gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Ingol
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off St Margarets Close before work, or in the car park outside The Ancient Oak heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar motors are second, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company cars place their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as easily, and after the tip begins, no part stops it. Tanterton or the heart of Ingol: it is the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, on a forecourt in Ingol or a driveway over in Ashton-on-Ribble. A few seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you collect a hire car or fleet car — from Preston's car park, perhaps — rather than once the warning appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Lancashire that is.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Dovedale Avenue.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, yet it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Step five stays off limits.
Ingol: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Short list, then. Top of that: your engine stays unstarted. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Hillcrest Service Station or the BP, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. At home around Ingol? So the car remains where it is.
Already run? Stop when it's sensible, then turn off. The next exit means where to leave when you are on the M55, under 3 miles from Ingol. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Preston, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Ingol.
What takes place when our engineers turn up around Ingol
Outside Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Ingol, Preston, close to St Margaret's or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our technicians come to it. We ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it's run, since the answers decide the work and the price. No one heads out before you've had our price over the phone.
Then your tank is cleared and the system cleaned thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. The filter cleaned or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. Then our engineers start the engine and make sure it runs smoothly before we go.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after we arrive, as long as the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Ingol and where it is
Ingol is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside near Preston, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Ingol sits at an elevation of 28 metres, close to the River Ribble, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Tanterton, Cadley, and Cottam. Ingol is located approximately 2.3 miles from Preston city centre and 191.6 miles from London. Ingol has a population of around 6087 residents, living in a predominantly semi-detached housing stock.
AdBlue drains round Ingol, and Lancashire beyond
As a residential suburb, Ingol has the same vans as surrounding places — Cadley, Cottam — right through PR postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting PR2 3.
Shifting the vehicle is not necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Tom Benson Walk, a side street near St Margaret's Parish Centre: our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Ingol Methodist Church.
Ingol motorists: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Lancashire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.