Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Nether Lees: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. Around Nether Lees, finding it before the motor runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many modern diesels around Lees, like those in Nether Lees, carry on two liquids; your engine takes just your diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate 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. Diesel goes in on each forecourt call-out, again and again. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
Nether Lees: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a drive off Melville Street before work, or in the car park at Angel Inn on the way home: that's where the hurried 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.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second thing: a strange car.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as readily, and after the tip begins, no part stops it. Whether it happens in Leesfield or the middle of Nether Lees, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Nether Lees or a drive over in Glodwick Lows. Seconds, no more.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to the diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Mossley (Manchester)'s car park, say — not once the warning appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light appears — anywhere you are around Greater Manchester — a simple routine to follow.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Sunny Bank.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays out.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Nether Lees already?
Short order, then. First: your engine remains unstarted. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of the tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Gulf, Shell or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the vehicle away if you ask. If you're on your own driveway around Nether Lees, leave it where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. On the M60, under 3 miles from Nether Lees, that means the next junction. A short hop across Nether Lees is a smaller job than a run towards Manchester, under 10 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Nether Lees: what happens when our engineers turn up
The van comes to your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near St Thomas, or outside St Thomas' Leesfield CofE Primary School. What liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask since the replies decide both work and price. The quote is given on the call, before any van leaves.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. With AdBlue that counts 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. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we leave, we start it and check that it is running properly.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor hasn't run take roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Nether Lees and where it is
Nether Lees is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated near the River Medlock and characterised by its terraced housing. Nether Lees sits at an elevation of 174 metres, approximately 7.9 miles east of Manchester. Nether Lees is close to nearby places such as Leesfield, Leesbrook, and Holts, and is part of the larger Manchester urban area. Nether Lees has a population of around 6677 people.
AdBlue drains across Greater Manchester, Nether Lees included
Nether Lees is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Leesbrook and Holts among them, across the OL postcode area. Quickest of all: give a OL4 5 postcode for the van.
There's no need to move your car. Wherever it sits — beside Lees Library, in a lay-by en route to Glodwick Lows, at home — that is where it gets cleared. Assuming won't help at the back of Sub Space, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
In short, for Nether Lees people
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, throughout Greater Manchester.