How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in New Windsor
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down for now, leave your ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the motor hasn't run, it's emptied and fully rinsed where the car sits around New Windsor. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the reasons it occurs and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels around Ordsall, as well as New Windsor, carry on two liquids; your motor takes only 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.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Far less often, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in New Windsor?
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
On a drive off Culverwell Drive before work, or in the car park outside The Winston heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand hits 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 after it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of New Windsor or out in Wallness.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these first, at a forecourt around New Windsor or a drive out in Charlestown. Seconds, no more.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you pick up a rental or company car — from Salford Crescent's car park, say — not when the light appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere you are around Greater Manchester — a routine to follow.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, motor stopped, and not rushed by Cotterill Street at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two share a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look once more — confirm the diesel cap remained closed throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? So stop right there. Don't carry on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in New Windsor?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Tesco, JET or another forecourt will usually help pushing the car clear if asked. Your own drive in New Windsor is where it should stay.
When your engine has run already, stop safely then turn the vehicle off. Leave the M602 — under a mile out of New Windsor — at the first junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Salford, under a mile away, is a bigger job than a short hop across New Windsor.
Our arrival in New Windsor, and what occurs next
By St Paul's CofE Primary School, close to Oliver Heywood or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask since the replies decide both work and price. During the call itself, you are told the quote — before anything else.
Draining the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. The filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; then a check of your vehicle. The motor is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine has not run need about half an hour once our technicians arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About New Windsor, for a moment
New Windsor is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 47 metres, with Salford city centre just 0.7 miles away. New Windsor is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and is located near other local areas such as Wallness and Pendleton. New Windsor has a population of approximately 4974 residents and is part of the wider Salford urban area. New Windsor is also relatively distant from London, at around 163.8 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Greater Manchester, New Windsor included
New Windsor is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns near it, Pendleton and Salford among them, across the M postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting M5 4.
There's no need to shift your car. Draining takes place right there, be it a driveway, a road near The Advent Centre, or a lay-by on the way to Broadwalk Park. Awkward to explain, like the back of Working Class Movement Library? By a border? Checking is better than assuming, so ring.
In short, for New Windsor drivers
Pour nothing till you have read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it stands, anywhere around Greater Manchester: switch the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.