How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Middlewich
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Middlewich. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels on the roads about Middlewich and Yatehouse Green carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Every tank has one filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every filling station call-out, week in, week out. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. That gap is where the slip lives.
Middlewich: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Leadsmithy Street before work, or in the car park outside Kings Arms heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
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 once it has started. Newtonia or the middle of Middlewich: it is the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Clive or a forecourt in Middlewich.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles show which belongs in each inlet right there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check as you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from Winsford's car park, say — not when the warning comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, wherever across Cheshire, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Hightown.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, confirm it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting your car, close the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap was never came off.
Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Leave out step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Middlewich?
The short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the D&D Autos or the Shell, ask the attendants to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. At home in Middlewich? Then the vehicle stays where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Middlewich sits under 3 miles from the M6; on it, take the first junction. About how far did it go? Crossing Middlewich is less work than a trip of under 25 miles to Stoke-on-Trent, and so say.
When we turn up around Middlewich, what occurs?
Anywhere your car has stopped, whether outside Middlewich Primary School, near Middlewich Library or at home, the van travels to it. What fluid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since the replies set both work and price. On the phone call itself, you are told the quote — ahead of anything else.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Next our engineers start the car and confirm it runs properly before we go.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine has not run take about half an hour once we are there. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Middlewich
Middlewich is a town in Cheshire, situated on the River Dane and the Shropshire Union Canal, with a mix of old and new housing including many detached homes. Middlewich lies about 16 miles south of Stoke-on-Trent and 152 miles northwest of London, in a low-lying area near the Cheshire Plain. Middlewich has a population of around 11410 people and is close to nearby places such as Newtonia and Manor Park. Middlewich remains a significant settlement in the region with its own distinct character.
AdBlue drains round Middlewich, and Cheshire beyond
As a riverside town, Middlewich has the same vans as nearby areas — Manor Park, Stanthorne — all the way through CW postcodes and the wider area around them. Give a postcode that starts CW10 9, and the van gets there fastest.
Shifting the car is not necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Fountain Fields, a side street near St. Michael and All Angels Church: our engineers drain it where it is. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Roman Theatre? Close to a county line? Checking is better than guessing, so phone.
The short version for Middlewich people
Tip nothing until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere in Cheshire.