Mellor: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave the motor and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Around Mellor, catching it before the motor runs normally means draining and a full flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the reasons it takes place and the how to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of newer diesels around Hollywood End, like those in Mellor, carry on two fluids; your engine gets just your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
There is a filler for every tank. Plenty of cars have a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in the gap that the error happens.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Mellor: how it occurs
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste follows from the warning. Your 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 drive off Knowle Road, or heading home in the car park outside Royal Oak.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — because a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once begun, carries on. Brook Bottom or the middle of Mellor: it is the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt around Mellor or a drive over in Marple. Seconds, that's all.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Marple.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever in Greater Manchester the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Longhurst Lane, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two sit under a flap, make sure it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Mellor?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Leave your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts your fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Shell or the Texaco, ask the attendants to help roll the car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Mellor.
Already run? Stop once it is sensible, then turn off. On the M60, under 5 miles from Mellor, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Mellor is less a job than a run of under 15 miles towards Manchester, and so say.
Mellor: what takes place when we get there
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Mellor Primary School, close to Mellor Sports Club or on your own driveway. Both the work and our price rest on three replies — which liquid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so we ask. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and nothing washes out unaided, however long it is left. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Mellor, briefly
Mellor is a small village in Greater Manchester, situated near the lakeside and surrounded by rolling hills. Mellor has a population of around 613 people and is characterized by semi-detached housing. Mellor sits at an elevation of 152 metres, approximately 10 miles from Manchester, and is close to nearby places such as Brook Bottom and Marple Bridge. Mellor is located in the North West region of England, about 153 miles from London.
AdBlue drains in Mellor and across Greater Manchester
Mill Brow and Marple Bridge are among the towns near Mellor, a village, that the same teams cover, throughout SK postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SK6 5.
Your car doesn't need to shift. Wherever it sits — beside Mellor War Memorial, in a layby en route to Mellor and Townscliffe Golf Course, on a drive — that's where it is emptied. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Mellor Mill dig site? Close to a border? Checking beats assuming, so ring.
Mellor drivers: the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere across Greater Manchester.