Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ringley
Leave your engine and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Normally, if the motor has not run, it's drained and thoroughly rinsed where the car is in Ringley. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the why it happens and the ways to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
No single liquid but two: that's how many newer diesels around Ringley and Kearsley Moss run, with diesel for your engine. The exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from a separate tank.
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. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Ringley: how it happens
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Ringley Old Brow, or on the way home in the car park outside The Horseshoe.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — yet a rental car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's the second thing: a new car.
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. Stoneclough or the middle of Ringley: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Ringley forecourt or a driveway over in Kearsley, spend a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives if your filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Kearsley, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere across Greater Manchester, follow this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — not rushing on the side of Ringley Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never carry on to step five.
Ringley: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Shell, Esso or another forecourt will normally lend a hand to push your car clear if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Ringley.
Where the motor has been run already, pull over safely and switch the vehicle off. Ringley sits under 3 miles from the Kearsley Spur; there, take the first exit. Distance matters — a short hop across Ringley makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to Salford — so say roughly how far it went.
Ringley: what happens when our engineers get there
Outside St Saviour CofE Primary School, Ringley, close to St Saviour or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, because those answers determine the work and our price. You get that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs correctly, all before we head off.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Ringley, for a moment
Ringley is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 56 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Ringley lies approximately 5 miles from Salford and is close to nearby places such as Stoneclough, Ringley Fold, and Prestolee. Ringley has a population of around 2781 residents and is located in the North West region of England, about 169 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Greater Manchester, Ringley included
Ringley Fold and Prestolee are among the towns near Ringley, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over M postcodes. Quickest of all: give a M26 1 postcode for our van.
Your car stays where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Ringley Wood, a side street close to Emmanuel Church: we drain it where it sits. Guessing won't help at the back of Holy Trinity, close to a border, or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
Ringley people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, throughout Greater Manchester.