Shevington Moor: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave your engine and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. In Shevington Moor, finding it before the motor runs usually leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's what many newer diesels near Shevington Moor and Shevington Vale carry, with diesel for your engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Plenty of motors share a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think which cap it needs. It is in the gap that the error happens.
Shevington Moor: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Almond Brook Road, or at Foresters Arms on the way home after work.
Then, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
Nothing stops the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, whether out in Hunger Hill or right in the heart of Shevington Moor.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Shevington Moor forecourt or a driveway over in Appley Bridge, take a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- On plenty of cars, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Appley Bridge.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Greater Manchester that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Shevington Moor, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off first.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Don't carry on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Shevington Moor?
Don't start the engine: that is where the short order of things starts. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Shell, the BP or somewhere else. On your own drive around Shevington Moor? Then your car stays where it is.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M6, under a mile from Shevington Moor, that means the next exit. A short hop across Shevington Moor is a smaller job than a run towards Preston, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival around Shevington Moor, and what takes place next
Outside St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Wrightington, close to The Catholic Church of Saint Joseph or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Which liquid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask since those answers decide the work and quote. No one heads out before you have had our price by phone.
Emptying the tank comes next, then a full flush of your system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes away unaided. That is why it matters more. After your filter is cleaned — or replaced, where required — fresh diesel goes in, and then the car gets tested. We don't leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. It is worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Shevington Moor
Shevington Moor is a village in Greater Manchester, situated near the River Douglas and close to the West Lancashire border. Shevington Moor sits at an elevation of 101 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Shevington Moor is located near to several other villages, including Hunger Hill, Standish, and Shevington, and is approximately 11.8 miles from the city of Preston.
AdBlue drains around Shevington Moor, and Greater Manchester beyond
Over WN postcodes, our teams that cover Shevington Moor — a village — work the surrounding locations too, Shevington and Standish included. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting WN6 0.
No need to move the car. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a driveway, a road by Our Lady of the Annunciation (St Maries), or a layby towards Thomson House Equestrian Centre. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Standish Weslyan Methodist Chapel.
In short, for Shevington Moor drivers
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Greater Manchester, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103.