Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Prestolee: Why It Happens
Pause here a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the engine hasn't run, it's emptied and thoroughly flushed where your car is around Prestolee. Reading before the event? In that case the rest explains why it happens and how to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel feeds the engine — yet many newer diesels driven about Prestolee and Ringley carry a second fluid too. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
There's a filler on every tank. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, while some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
Prestolee: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Alexandra Road before work, or in the car park outside The Grapes on the way home.
Unfamiliar cars are second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Stoneclough or the heart of Prestolee: it is the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Kearsley Moss or a forecourt in Prestolee.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Kearsley, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — anywhere it is in Greater Manchester — a simple routine to use.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — never hurried on the side of Church Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- 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 is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap never opened off.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Prestolee?
Do not start your motor: that's where the short order of things begins. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the base instead of mixing — and that's where your fuel is pulled from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the Gulf, ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. If you're on your own driveway around Prestolee, leave the car where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. Leave the Kearsley Spur — under a mile out of Prestolee — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Salford, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Prestolee.
What takes place when we get there in Prestolee
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Prestolee Primary School, close to Holy Trinity or on your own drive. The answers determine this work and the price, and so our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of it clears away unaided, however long it sits. After your filter has been flushed — or renewed, where required — clean diesel is added, and finally your car is tested. Then our technicians start the engine and confirm it runs properly before we go.
If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Prestolee, briefly
Prestolee is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 53 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Prestolee lies approximately 5.7 miles from Salford and is close to nearby places such as Stoneclough, Nob End, and Kearsley. Prestolee has a population of around 2414 residents and is located in the North West region of England, about 169.7 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Greater Manchester, Prestolee included
As a residential suburb, Prestolee shares its vans surrounding places — Nob End, Kearsley — all the way across M postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Give a postcode that starts M26 1, and the van arrives fastest.
The vehicle doesn't need to move. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Schoenstatte Shrine, a lay-by on the way to Ash Clough SSSI, a driveway. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Springfield Gardens Community Centre.
For Prestolee motorists, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across Greater Manchester, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.