Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in North Shore
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around North Shore. The remainder of this page covers why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel feeds the motor — but many current diesels seen about North Shore and Layton carry a second liquid too. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
North Shore: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Gosforth Road, or heading home in the car park at Gynn Hotel.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a rental car, a new car or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
Nothing stops the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Warbreck or the middle of North Shore, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a North Shore forecourt or a driveway over in Blackpool, spend a few seconds on these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- Plenty of motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to your diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Layton? Check with the person who drove the car last before leaving, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Lancashire that is.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Cleator Avenue.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. 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.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap, and look once more — making sure your diesel filler remained closed the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in North Shore?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition goes on — and so leave it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — Shell, Esso or any other — the attendants will usually help roll the vehicle away, when you ask. If you are on your own drive in North Shore, leave the car where it stands.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M55, under 5 miles from North Shore, that means the next exit. A short hop across North Shore is a smaller job than a run towards Preston, under 25 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
North Shore: what happens when we turn up
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Holy Family Catholic Primary School, near Holy Family or on your own driveway. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — what fluid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, after the tank is cleared. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of that clears out on its own, no matter how long it is left. The filter cleaned or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. Then our engineers fire it up and check it runs smoothly before we leave.
If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About North Shore itself
North Shore is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the coast in the North West of England, with an elevation of around 24 metres. North Shore lies approximately 15 miles west of Preston and some 202 miles north-west of London, forming part of a larger residential area that includes nearby Warbreck, Hoohill, and Queenstown. North Shore is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the typical residential development patterns of the region.
AdBlue drains around North Shore, and Lancashire beyond
Hoohill and Queenstown are among the towns around North Shore, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout FY postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting FY2 9.
No need to shift your car. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Claremont Park Community Centre, a lay-by on the way to Warbreck Recreation Ground, a driveway. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of The Magic Club, ring and ask instead of guessing.
North Shore motorists: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Lancashire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — and so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.