How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Over Town
Keep your engine and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain plus a full flush, carried out just where the vehicle sits around Over Town, is usually what it takes when caught before your engine runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels around Holme Chapel, like those in Over Town, run on two fluids; the engine gets only the diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of cars 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 at every forecourt visit, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Over Town
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Red Lees Road before work, or in the car park outside The Kettledrum Inn on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and after the tip starts, no part stops it. It's seconds, whether out in Mereclough or right in the centre of Over Town.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Over Town or a driveway out in Hurstwood. Seconds, that's all.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- The handbook shows which it lives if the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you collect a rental or company car — from Burnley Manchester Road's car park, perhaps — rather than when the light appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light appears — wherever you are across Lancashire — a routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Mount Lane.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both share a flap, make sure it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure the diesel filler stayed shut throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Over Town?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, just where fuel is taken from.
The staff at Monarch Garage, Tesco or any forecourt will usually help to push the vehicle away when asked. Your own driveway in Over Town is the place it should stay.
Where your motor has run already, pull over somewhere safe and turn the car off. Leave the M65 — under 5 miles out of Over Town — at the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Over Town is smaller a job than a run of under 25 miles towards Bradford, and so tell us.
Over Town: what takes place when we get there
The van comes to your car anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside St John's Church, or by St John's CofE Primary School, Cliviger. Which liquid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because those answers set both work and price. The quote comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is emptied. 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. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor has not run take roughly half an hour after our technicians are there. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Over Town itself
Over Town is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside with a mix of detached housing and scenic views. Over Town sits at an elevation of 209 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Over Town is located near several nearby places, including Mereclough, Southward Bottom, and Cliviger, and is approximately 18 miles from Bradford. Over Town has a population of around 1186 residents.
AdBlue drains round Over Town, and Lancashire beyond
As a residential suburb, Over Town has the same vans as nearby areas — Southward Bottom, Cliviger — all the way through BB postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Quickest of all: quote a BB10 4 postcode to the van.
The vehicle does not need to shift. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Towneley Hall, a lay-by on the way to Spring Gardens, a driveway. Awkward to explain, like the back of Museum of Local Crafts & Industries? By a border? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
For Over Town people, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep the vehicle switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across Lancashire.