Oozewood: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, keep the ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the motor has not run, it is emptied and thoroughly purged where the vehicle is in Oozewood. Here before the event? Then the rest covers why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel goes to your engine — yet plenty of current diesels driven about Oozewood and Gravel Hole hold another fluid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt visit, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less frequently. The error lives in that gap.
Oozewood: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Kensington Drive, or heading home in the car park outside Halfway House.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's the second thing: an unfamiliar motor.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, be it out in Thorp or bang in the centre of Oozewood.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Narrow Gate Brow or a forecourt around Oozewood.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many cars, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is if the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Castleton? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere around Greater Manchester the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Kingston Drive, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Step five stays out.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Oozewood?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — Shell, Red Rose Filling Station or another — the attendants will normally help roll your car away, if you ask. Your own driveway around Oozewood is where it should stay.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Come off the A627(M) — under 3 miles out of Oozewood — at the first junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Manchester, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Oozewood.
Oozewood: what happens when our technicians turn up
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Fir Bank Primary School, close to Boyes or on your own drive. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — what fluid, which amount, and if it has run — so our technicians ask. The price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then your tank is drained and the system flushed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Next our engineers fire it up and check it runs smoothly before we go.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run need about half an hour after we arrive. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Oozewood and where it is
Oozewood is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside with a mix of semi-detached housing. Oozewood sits at an elevation of 165 metres, approximately 8 miles from Manchester, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Thorp and Hanging Chadder. Oozewood has a population of around 5243 residents, and its location near Manchester makes it a commuter-friendly area. Oozewood is also relatively close to the Peak District National Park, with its scenic landscapes and outdoor recreational opportunities.
AdBlue drains round Oozewood, and Greater Manchester beyond
Hanging Chadder and Summit are among the towns around Oozewood, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout OL postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting OL2 5.
Your car does not need to move. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near St James, a lay-by on the way to Dogford Park, a driveway. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Royton Leisure Centre, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The short version for Oozewood people
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it is, anywhere around Greater Manchester: switch the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.