Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ley Hey Park

Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?

Diesel feeds your engine — yet plenty of modern diesels driven about Ley Hey Park and Cherry Tree hold another liquid as well. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.

Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. It is in the gap that the error lives.

Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler

Whether a Ley Hey Park forecourt or a drive out in Cote Green, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.

• Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
• Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
• Open the filler flap and look for a label — many vehicles show which goes in each filler right there.
• In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
• The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Marple, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.

What takes place when we turn up in Ley Hey Park

Wherever the car came to rest, be it outside Rose Hill Primary School, beside Marple Sports Club or at home, the van comes to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — what liquid, what amount, and if it has run — so our technicians ask. On the phone call itself, you are told our price — before anything else.

The system is then flushed thoroughly, after your tank is cleared. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away unaided. Hence it counts more. After the fuel filter is cleaned — or renewed, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and finally your vehicle is tested. The motor is started next and checked to make sure it runs smoothly, all before we go.

If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.