How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Old Hall
Keep the motor and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain and a full flush, done just where the car stands around Old Hall, is normally all it takes if found before your motor runs. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the why it occurs and the how to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Not one fluid but two: that's what many modern diesels around Old Hall and Callands run, with diesel feeding the motor. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank.
There is a filler for every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
Old Hall: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Twenty Acre Road before work, or in the car park outside The Maltings on the way home.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it happens in Hood Manor or the middle of Old Hall, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Kingswood or a forecourt around Old Hall.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- Many cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it is when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check when you pick up a rental or company car — at Warrington West's car park, perhaps — not once the light appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light comes on, anywhere across Cheshire, use this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of A574.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — after you have located the filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Finish once the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour gently using its built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, then look once more — making sure the diesel cap remained closed the whole time. Only then, start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Old Hall already?
Short list, then. First: the engine remains off. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — Asda, Texaco or any other — the attendants will normally help push the vehicle clear, when you ask. If you're on your own drive around Old Hall, leave it where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. Old Hall sits under 3 miles from the M62; on it, take the next junction. A short hop across Old Hall is a smaller job than a run towards Liverpool, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians get there around Old Hall, what takes place?
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Westbrook Old Hall Primary School, near Bewsey Barns Community Centre or on your own driveway. What liquid was put in, the quantity, and whether it ran: we ask since the replies set the work and quote. You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Draining the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the 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 doesn't wash out on its own. After the fuel filter is cleaned — or renewed, where required — fresh diesel is added, and finally your car is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running correctly.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Old Hall itself
Old Hall is a suburban area in Cheshire, situated on the riverside with an elevation of 16 metres, and is located near several other communities including Hood Manor and Westbrook. Old Hall is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting the area's residential nature. Old Hall sits within the wider North West region, approximately 167.8 miles from London and 14.6 miles from Liverpool. Old Hall is a relatively small suburban area with a population of around 5684 residents.
AdBlue drains across Cheshire, Old Hall included
Throughout WA postcodes, our teams covering Old Hall — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Bewsey and Westbrook included. Quote a postcode beginning WA5 8, and our van arrives quickest.
The car stays where it is. We drain it where it is — a side street close to The Arrows, a lay-by on the way to Twenty Acre Park, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of The Maze.
In short, for Old Hall motorists
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere around Cheshire.