Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Irlam: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the engine hasn't run, it is emptied and thoroughly rinsed where your car is around Irlam. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels around Carrington, like those in Irlam, carry on two liquids; your engine gets just the diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray treats the gas.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Topping up the diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think which cap to use. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Irlam?
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and running dry means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Fiddlers Lane, perhaps at Irlam Social Club on the way home that evening.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, carries on. Whether it happens in Woods End or the middle of Irlam, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these first, on a forecourt in Irlam or a drive over in Crofts Bank. Seconds, no more.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many vehicles show what goes in each inlet right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Flixton? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere across Greater Manchester, follow this routine.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and not rushed beside Dairydale Close on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you have located your filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly using its own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Step five is off limits.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Irlam?
Don't start the engine: that's where the short order of things starts. Keep your ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone runs the pump. Filling up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, right where fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — Shell, Texaco or another — the staff will normally help push the vehicle clear, when you ask. At home around Irlam? So the vehicle stays put.
Already started? Pull over when it's safe, then switch off. Irlam lies under a mile from the M62; there, use the next exit. A short hop across Irlam is a smaller job than a run towards Salford, under 10 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When our engineers get there around Irlam, what takes place?
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Fiddlers Lane Community Primary School, near Irlam Library or on your own driveway. Which liquid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask because those replies set both work and quote. You get that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, after the tank is drained. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of it washes out by itself. Hence it matters more. Testing comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Before we leave, we start the car and make sure that it is running smoothly.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Irlam and where it is
Irlam is a town situated on the banks of the River Irwell in Greater Manchester, with a population of around 16992 people. Irlam lies approximately 5.2 miles southwest of Salford and 165.2 miles northwest of London, at an elevation of 22 metres. Irlam is characterised by its semi-detached housing stock and is near to other local places such as Woods End and Flixton. Irlam's riverside setting has influenced its development over time.
AdBlue drains around Irlam and across Greater Manchester
Being a riverside town, Irlam has the same vans as surrounding areas — Calder Bank, Flixton — right across M postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Fastest of all: quote a M44 6 postcode to the van.
Shifting the car is not needed. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a driveway, a street near Silver Street, or a lay-by towards Woodsend Park. Tricky to pin down, like the back of St John's? By a border? Checking beats assuming, so phone.
For Irlam drivers, the short version
Tip nothing till you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the vehicle switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, throughout Greater Manchester.