Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Maghull: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. In Maghull, finding it before the engine runs normally means a drain and a full flush where it stands. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads around Maghull and Melling carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
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 the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
Maghull: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Westway, or outside The Hare & Hounds on the way home that evening.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Maghull or out in Lydiate.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt around Maghull or a driveway over in Holt Green. A few seconds, that's all.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- On many motors, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — many motors mark what belongs in which inlet just there.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from the nearest station's car park, perhaps — rather than once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across Merseyside the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Central Square, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Never go on to stage five.
Maghull: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
At a forecourt — Esso, Shell or any other — the attendants will usually help push your car clear, if you ask. If you're on your own drive around Maghull, leave the car where it is.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction means where to come off if you're on the M58, under 3 miles from Maghull. About how far did it go? Crossing Maghull is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles towards Liverpool, so say.
Our arrival in Maghull, and what happens next
Our van comes to your car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near St Andrew, or outside St Andrews Church of England Primary School, Maghull. Those replies decide this work and our quote, so we ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out unaided. That is why it matters more. Testing comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed as needed. Next our technicians fire it up and confirm it runs smoothly before leaving.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine has not run need roughly half an hour once we are there. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Maghull and where it is
Maghull is a town in Merseyside, situated on the River Alt, with a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential areas. Maghull lies about 7.5 miles north of Liverpool, near the towns of Lydiate and Sefton. Maghull has a population of around 20962 people and is located at an elevation of 24 metres above sea level. Maghull is part of the wider Liverpool urban area, but retains its own distinct character.
Maghull and Merseyside: AdBlue drains across the area
Over L postcodes, the teams that cover Maghull — a riverside town — work the surrounding locations too, Lunt and Sefton among them. A postcode starting L31 0 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to move the vehicle. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Dodds Park, a side street close to St James: our technicians drain the vehicle where it sits. Assuming won't help at the back of Saint George's Roman Catholic Church, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
The short version for Maghull drivers
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, anywhere in Merseyside: keep the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.