How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ramsbottom
Pause here a minute when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Ramsbottom. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single fluid but two: that is what plenty of modern diesels around Ramsbottom and Fletcher Bank carry, with diesel feeding your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler on each tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Ramsbottom: how it happens
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Ramsbottom Lane, or heading home in the car park outside The Oaks.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new motor 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.
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. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Ramsbottom or out in Carr.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Look at these first, on a forecourt in Ramsbottom or a driveway out in Holcombe. A few seconds, no more.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Entwistle's car park, say — rather than when the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere in Greater Manchester the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Bridge Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The two under one flap? So confirm the lid on the diesel side is still closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour gently through the built-in spout.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and check again that your diesel cap never came off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Ramsbottom?
Don't start your engine: that's where the short order of things starts. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that's where your fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — EG On the Move, Esso or any other — the attendants will usually help roll the car clear, when you ask. Your own driveway around Ramsbottom is where it stays.
Already started? Stop once it is sensible, then turn off. Leave the M66 — under a mile out of Ramsbottom — at the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Ramsbottom is smaller work than a run of under 15 miles towards Salford, so tell us.
When our engineers get there in Ramsbottom, what takes place?
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, Ramsbottom, close to Tilted Vase or on your own driveway. Those replies settle this work and our quote, so we ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run. No one sets off until you have had our price by phone.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system purged 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 last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or replaced as needed. The motor is started next and tested to confirm it runs properly, all before our engineers head off.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after we get there, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Ramsbottom and where it is
Ramsbottom is a town in Greater Manchester, situated on the banks of the River Irwell at an elevation of 141 metres. Ramsbottom has a mix of terraced housing and other residential areas, with nearby neighbourhoods including Carr, Tanners, and Peel Brow. Ramsbottom is located approximately 11.7 miles from Salford and 174.2 miles from London, making it a commuter town with access to larger cities. Ramsbottom remains a distinct community with its own character and amenities.
AdBlue drains about Ramsbottom, and Greater Manchester beyond
Tanners and Peel Brow are among the places near Ramsbottom, a riverside town, that the same vans cover, over BL postcodes. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting BL0 9.
No need to shift your car. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Bridge Street Gardens, a side street near Ramsbottom Library: our technicians drain the car where it sits. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Theatre Royal, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Ramsbottom drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, wherever in Greater Manchester: switch the car off then call 0333 366 0103.