AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ravenhead: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
Stop here for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Around Ravenhead, finding it before the engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Ravenhead and Green Bank carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
There is a filler for every tank. Many of vehicles share a single flap for both, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in that gap that the slip happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Ravenhead: how it occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Stafford Road before work, or in the car park at Bird I'th Hand on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: a strange car.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, keeps on. It's seconds, be it in Toll Bar or right in the centre of Ravenhead.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Newtown or a forecourt in Ravenhead, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many vehicles show which belongs in each inlet right there.
- The handbook says where it is when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver knows. Check as you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Thatto Heath's car park, perhaps — not once the warning comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is around Merseyside — a simple routine to follow.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, engine stopped, and never rushed by Royal Grove at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- The two behind one flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel filler stays shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and look again — confirm your diesel cap remained shut throughout. After that, start your car.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Stage five stays off limits.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Ravenhead?
Brief list, then. First: the motor stays unstarted. Leave the ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels it alone starts the pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the Morrisons or the Asda petrol station, ask the staff to help push your car clear of the pump. At home in Ravenhead? So your car remains where it is.
When your motor has been run by now, stop somewhere safe then switch the car off. Come off the M62 — under 3 miles out of Ravenhead — at the first junction. Distance matters — a quick hop across Ravenhead is a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Liverpool — so tell us about how far it went.
Ravenhead: what takes place when we get there
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Thatto Heath Community Primary School, near St John the Evangelist or on your own drive. Our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run, because the replies settle this work and the quote. During the call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of dispatch.
Then the tank is cleared and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters 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. Once your filter is cleaned — or renewed, if required — clean diesel goes in, and then the vehicle gets tested. Before we leave, we start the car and confirm that it's running properly.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Ravenhead, for a moment
Ravenhead is a suburban area in Merseyside, situated near the lakeside with an elevation of 52 metres. Ravenhead lies approximately 9.5 miles from Liverpool and is surrounded by other nearby places such as Toll Bar, West Park, and Thatto Heath. Ravenhead has a population of around 4048 people and predominantly features terraced housing. Ravenhead is located in the North West region of England, about 173.5 miles from London.
AdBlue drains round Ravenhead, and Merseyside beyond
Ravenhead is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, West Park and Thatto Heath among them, across the WA postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a WA10 3 postcode to the van.
The car remains put. Draining happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a street near Thatto Heath Library, or a lay-by towards Thatto Heath Park. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Taylor Park Community Cycle Hub, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Ravenhead drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Merseyside, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — and so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.