AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Skelmersdale: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
Keep the engine and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Skelmersdale. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the why it occurs and the ways to avoid it altogether.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the engine — but plenty of current diesels seen around Skelmersdale and Fosters Green hold a second fluid as well. AdBlue goes to the 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. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both side by side under one flap. Diesel gets filled at each filling station call-out, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, 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.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Skelmersdale
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off Southway before work, or in the car park outside The Viking heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
Third, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and after the pour begins, no part halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Skelmersdale or out in Town Centre.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt in Skelmersdale or a drive over in Digmoor. Seconds, no more.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many motors show which goes in which inlet just there.
- The handbook says which it lives when your filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Upholland? Check with whoever drove it last before leaving, not once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever in Lancashire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, engine off, and not rushed by Town Centre Plaza at the roadside.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you have found your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Leave out stage five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Skelmersdale?
Brief order, then. Top of it: your motor stays unstarted. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Topping up with diesel won't weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, just where fuel is taken from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Asda or the Shell, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump. On your own drive in Skelmersdale? So the car stays put.
Where the engine has run already, stop somewhere safe then switch the car off. The next exit is where to leave if you're on the M58, under a mile from Skelmersdale. Distance matters — a quick hop across Skelmersdale makes a smaller job than driving under 15 miles towards Liverpool — so say about how far it went.
What takes place when our engineers get there in Skelmersdale
Outside Delph Side Community Primary School, near Capitol Cinemas or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. The replies decide this work and our quote, so our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run. Nobody sets off before you've had the quote over the phone.
Then the tank is emptied and the system rinsed thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing washes out unaided, however long it sits. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before we leave, our technicians start the car and confirm that it's running smoothly.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour job after arrival. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. No money in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Skelmersdale
Skelmersdale is a town in Lancashire, situated on the banks of the River Tawd, with a mix of terraced housing and modern developments. Skelmersdale sits at an elevation of 61 metres, approximately 12.8 miles east of Liverpool, and is home to around 20,500 residents. Skelmersdale has a range of local amenities, including the Town Centre, and is surrounded by nearby neighbourhoods such as Tanhouse and East Gillibrands.
AdBlue drains around Skelmersdale, and Lancashire beyond
Throughout WN postcodes, our teams covering Skelmersdale — a new town — work the surrounding locations too, East Gillibrands and Tanhouse included. A postcode starting WN8 6 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving your car isn't necessary. The drain happens right there, whether a drive, a road by West Lancs Youth Zone, or a layby on the way to Tawd Valley Park. Tricky to pin down, like the back of The Concourse Shopping Centre? Close to a county line? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
For Skelmersdale people, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across Lancashire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.