How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Little Harwood
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where your vehicle stands around Little Harwood, is usually all it takes when caught before your motor runs. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel goes to the engine — yet many modern diesels driven round Little Harwood and Sunny Bower hold a second liquid as well. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to clean it, from its own tank.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. Much less often, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Little Harwood: how it occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off Philips Road before work, or in the car park outside Red Lion on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it is empty, limp mode follows.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Little Harwood or out in Cob Wall.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Green Bank or a forecourt around Little Harwood, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- On many cars, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it next to your diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Blackburn, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere around Lancashire, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Blakewater Road, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- The two behind a single flap? So confirm the cap on the diesel filler stays shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the 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. Leave out step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Little Harwood?
Short order, then. Top of that: your motor remains off. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Tesco, Shell or any other — the attendants will usually help roll the car clear, if you ask. If you are on your own drive in Little Harwood, leave the vehicle where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. The next exit means where to leave when you are on the M65, under a mile from Little Harwood. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Little Harwood makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Preston — so tell us roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our technicians arrive around Little Harwood
Outside St Stephen's Church of England Primary School, near Khanqah or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the price rest on three replies — which liquid, what amount, and whether it has run — so we ask. During the call itself, you are told the quote — ahead of dispatch.
The fuel system is then flushed thoroughly, once the tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing comes last: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or replaced as needed. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It's worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Little Harwood, for a moment
Little Harwood is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated near the River Ribble and characterised by its terraced housing. Little Harwood sits at an elevation of around 130 metres, with nearby neighbourhoods including Cob Wall, Daisyfield, and Bastwell. Little Harwood is located approximately 9.7 miles from Preston, making it a commuter base for the city. Little Harwood has a population of around 6202 residents.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, Little Harwood included
Daisyfield and Bastwell are among the towns around Little Harwood, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over BB postcodes. Give a postcode beginning BB1 5, and the van arrives fastest.
There's no need to move your car. Wherever it sits — near St Stephen, in a layby en route to Roe Lee Park, on a drive — that's where it gets cleared. Guessing doesn't help at the back of St Michael & All Angels Worship Centre, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
The short version for Little Harwood motorists
Always, the cap; then, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it stands, wherever in Lancashire: keep the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.