Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Millhead: Why It Happens
Leave the engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Normally, if the motor hasn't run, it is emptied and fully cleaned where the car sits around Millhead. Here in advance? In that case the rest covers how it comes about and how to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to the motor — yet many newer diesels driven around Millhead and Crag Foot carry another fluid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for each tank. Plenty of cars have a single flap for the two, while some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Millhead: how it occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and running out leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Mary Street, perhaps at Conservative Club on the way home after work.
Unfamiliar cars come next, too. Hire cars, new cars and company vehicles put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
No part stops the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Carnforth or the middle of Millhead, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Over Kellet or a forecourt in Millhead.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives if your filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Carnforth? Check with the person who drove it last before you set off, not once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
On the day the light comes on — anywhere you are across Lancashire — a simple routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Foundary Gardens.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start your car, shut the cap and check again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Stage five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Millhead already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. Keep the ignition off as well, since on plenty of diesels it by itself starts your fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, right where fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — Logs Direct, Esso or any other — the staff will normally help roll the vehicle away, if you ask. If you're on your own drive in Millhead, leave it where it sits.
Already started? Stop once it is sensible, then switch off. On the M6, under 3 miles from Millhead, that means the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Lancaster, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Millhead.
What happens when our engineers get there in Millhead
Wherever your car has stopped, whether outside Carnforth Christ Church, Church of England, Voluntary Aided Primary School, beside Kingdom Hall Of Jehovah's Witnesses or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Which liquid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because those answers decide the work and quote. You get that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
Then that tank is drained and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of that clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. Filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; then a test of your vehicle. Next our technicians start the car and make sure it runs smoothly before leaving.
If the engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Millhead itself
Millhead is a small suburban area in Lancashire, situated near the coast and approximately 6 miles from Lancaster. Millhead sits at a low elevation of around 16 metres, with nearby settlements including Carnforth, Warton, and Crag Bank. Millhead is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting the typical residential architecture of the region. Millhead is located within commuting distance of Lancaster, yet remains a distinct community with its own local identity.
AdBlue drains in Millhead and across Lancashire
As a residential suburb, Millhead has the same vans as surrounding areas — Warton, Crag Bank — all the way through LA postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Quickest of all: quote a LA5 9 postcode to the van.
Shifting your car is not necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Millhead Village Hall, a lay-by on the way to Keer Marsh, a driveway. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Free Methodist Church, ring and ask instead of guessing.
For Millhead motorists, the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you've read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it is, wherever in Lancashire: switch the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.