How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Linnyshaw
Pause reading a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. In Linnyshaw, catching it before the engine runs usually means a drain and a full flush on the spot. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels around Kearsley Moss, like those in Linnyshaw, carry on two liquids; the engine takes only your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Linnyshaw
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Greenhaven Close before work, or in the car park outside Brindley Arms on the way home.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: a strange car.
Nothing halts the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Whittle Brook or the middle of Linnyshaw, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these first, at a forecourt in Linnyshaw or a drive over in Kearsley. A few seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — many motors show what goes in each inlet right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Walkden, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Greater Manchester that is.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine off, and never rushed beside Linnet's Wood Mews on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays out.
Linnyshaw: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Don't start your motor: that's where the short order of things begins. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — Texaco, Tesco or another — the attendants will usually help roll the car clear, if you ask. Your own drive in Linnyshaw is where it stays.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. The next junction means where to come off if you are on the M61, under a mile from Linnyshaw. A short hop across Linnyshaw is a smaller job than a run towards Salford, under 5 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when we arrive in Linnyshaw
Our van comes to your car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, near Christ the King, or outside St Paul's CofE Primary School. Which liquid got in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask since the replies set both work and price. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, after that tank is emptied. More than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. The filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your car. The engine is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our technicians go.
Unrun cars usually need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Linnyshaw, briefly
Linnyshaw is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated near the lakeside and approximately 95 metres above sea level. Linnyshaw lies close to Whittle Brook and the nearby towns of Walkden and Hill Top, with the city of Salford just 4.9 miles away. Linnyshaw has a population of around 5467 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Greater Manchester, Linnyshaw included
Walkden and Hill Top are among the places near Linnyshaw, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout M postcodes. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting M28 3.
Your car stays put. A drive, a lay-by on the way to The Secret Valley, a side street close to St Paul's Church: our engineers drain it where it is. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Paul's Community Centre, ring and ask instead of assuming.
For Linnyshaw motorists, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere in Greater Manchester.