Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lower House: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down a moment, leave your ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Lower House, finding it before your engine turns usually leaves draining and a full flush on the spot. Reading in advance? In that case what follows explains how it happens and what to prevent it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many current diesels on the roads round Lower House and Widnes carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump happens constantly. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Lower House?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Thornton, or heading home in the car park at The Cricketers Arms.
Unfamiliar motors are second, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in just as readily, and once the tip begins, no part stops it. Whether it takes place in Ditton or the middle of Lower House, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in West Bank Dock Estate or a forecourt around Lower House, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- On many cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, 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 Widnes, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Cheshire that is.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and not rushed beside Brinton Close on the verge.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — once you have located the filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Lower House?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of 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 sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the Lower House Lane Depot, the Esso or anywhere else. On your own drive in Lower House? Then the car remains where it is.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Lower House lies under 3 miles from the M62; there, use the next junction. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Lower House makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles to Liverpool — so say roughly how far it went.
Lower House: what occurs when we get there
Anywhere the car has stopped, whether by Ditton Primary School, beside Ditton Community Campus or at home, our van travels to it. What fluid got in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the answers decide the work and price. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of that washes away on its own, however long it is left. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. The engine is started next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians leave.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Lower House, briefly
Lower House is a suburban area in Cheshire, situated near the coast and approximately 9.9 miles from Liverpool. Lower House has a relatively low elevation of 16 metres, and its proximity to the coast influences its local climate. Lower House is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, which is typical of many suburban areas in the North West of England.
AdBlue drains across Cheshire, Lower House included
Throughout WA postcodes, our vans that cover Lower House — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Ball o Ditton and Kingsway among them. Quickest of all: give a WA8 8 postcode to the van.
The car doesn't need to move. Wherever it stands — near St Raphael's Roman Catholic Church, on a layby en route to King George's Park, on a drive — that is where it gets cleared. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Halton Stadium? By a county line? Asking beats assuming, so ring.
The short version for Lower House motorists
First, the cap; then, the pour. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, wherever in Cheshire: switch the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.