Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pimhole: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the motor hasn't turned, it's emptied and thoroughly rinsed where the vehicle is in Pimhole. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Not one fluid but two: that is what many newer diesels around Pimhole and Fishpool carry, with diesel feeding your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
There is a filler on every tank. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have the two together under one flap. Diesel gets filled at each forecourt visit, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around Pimhole
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Hurst Street, or on the way home in the car park outside The Victory.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Third, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as readily, and after the tip starts, nothing stops it. Whether it takes place in Gigg or the middle of Pimhole, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Free Town or a forecourt around Pimhole, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to your diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Castleton? Check with the person who drove the car last before leaving, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere across Greater Manchester, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of James Street.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you have found your filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop right there. Step five is out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Pimhole already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. Leave your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels it alone starts your fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, right where fuel is taken from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the EG On the Move or the Tesco, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump. Your own driveway in Pimhole is the place it stays.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Come off the M66 — under a mile out of Pimhole — at the first junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Pimhole is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles to Salford, and so tell us.
Pimhole: what occurs when our engineers get there
Outside St Thomas Church of England Primary School, near St Thomas or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run, since the answers determine the work and our price. Nobody sets off until you have heard the price over the phone.
Then the tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly. 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 does not wash out on its own. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. The engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before we head off.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine has not run take roughly half an hour after we arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Pimhole and where it is
Pimhole is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated near the River Irwell at an elevation of 93 metres. Pimhole lies approximately 7.6 miles from Salford and is surrounded by nearby places such as Gigg, Bury, and Woodfields. Pimhole is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing stock, reflecting the area's historical development patterns. Pimhole is also relatively distant from London, at around 170 miles northwest of the capital.
Pimhole and Greater Manchester: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Pimhole shares its vans nearby areas — Bury, Woodfields — right across BL postcodes and the wider area beyond. Fastest of all: quote a BL9 7 postcode for our van.
There's no need to move your car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Openshaw Park, a side street close to TK Maxx: we drain the vehicle where it is. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Vue, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The short version for Pimhole people
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Greater Manchester, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.