How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Litherland
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your motor has not run, it is emptied and thoroughly purged where your car sits in Litherland. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Many modern diesels in Seaforth, like those in Litherland, carry on two liquids; your engine gets just your diesel. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where a spray cleans the gas.
There is a filler on each tank. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have the two together behind one flap. Diesel gets filled at every filling station call-out, again and again. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. It is in the gap that the error happens.
Litherland: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Hawthorne Road before work, or in the car park at The Railway on the way home.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: a strange vehicle.
Third, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as easily, and once the tip starts, no part halts it. Ford or the middle of Litherland: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Litherland forecourt or a drive over in Crosby, take a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- On plenty of motors, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you pick up a rental or company car — at Seaforth & Litherland's car park, perhaps — not once the warning comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Anywhere around Merseyside the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, engine stopped, and never rushed beside Hatton Hill Road at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap never came off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Step five is out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Litherland already?
Do not start your motor: that's how the short order of things starts. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, right where fuel is taken from.
The staff at the nearest petrol station, Shell or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the vehicle clear when asked. Your own drive in Litherland is the place it should stay.
Already run? Pull over when it's safe, then switch off. The next exit means where to come off if you are on the M57, under 3 miles from Litherland. Mileage matters — a short hop across Litherland makes a smaller job than driving under 5 miles towards Liverpool — so tell us about how far it went.
Litherland: what takes place when our technicians arrive
By English Martyrs' Catholic Primary School, near Litherland Youth & Community Centre or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Which liquid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask because those replies decide the work and quote. Nobody heads out before you've heard our quote by phone.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, once your tank is cleared. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and nothing washes out on its own, however long it is left. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before we leave, our engineers fire it up and make sure that it's running properly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, provided the engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Litherland itself
Litherland is a town on the coast of Merseyside, situated near the city of Liverpool, with Waterloo Park and the surrounding areas of Ford and Orrell nearby. Litherland has a population of approximately 36089 people and is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock. Litherland sits at a relatively low elevation of 22 metres above sea level, close to the Irish Sea coast. Litherland is located about 4.4 miles from Liverpool and 181.7 miles from London.
AdBlue drains in Litherland and across Merseyside
Throughout L postcodes, our vans that cover Litherland — a coastal town — work the surrounding spots too, Waterloo Park and Orrell among them. Fastest of all: quote a L21 9 postcode to our van.
No need to shift your car. Anywhere it sits — near English Martyrs RC Church, in a layby en route to Hatton Hill Park, at home — that is where it gets emptied. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Roman Catholic Church Of The English Martyrs, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
For Litherland people, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, wherever across Merseyside: keep it off then call 0333 366 0103.