Smallbridge: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Keep the engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Usually, if the engine has not turned, it's emptied and thoroughly purged where the car sits around Smallbridge. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels around Great Howarth, like those in Smallbridge, carry on two liquids; the engine takes just your diesel. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Smallbridge
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and running dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Halifax Road, or outside The Bulls Head on the way home that evening.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Hurstead or the middle of Smallbridge, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Greengate or a forecourt around Smallbridge, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- The handbook shows where it lives if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Smithy Bridge? Ask the person who drove the car last before leaving, not when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across Greater Manchester the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Dye House Lane, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Smallbridge already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Shell, Texaco or any other — the staff will normally help push your car away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Smallbridge.
Already run? Pull over when it is sensible, then turn off. On the M62, under 3 miles from Smallbridge, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Smallbridge is less work than a trip of under 15 miles to Manchester, so say.
When our technicians turn up around Smallbridge, what occurs?
Outside Kentmere Primary Academy, close to Smallbridge St John or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Which liquid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers decide the work and quote. Nobody heads out until you have heard the quote by phone.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after the tank is drained. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of it washes out on its own, however long it sits. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Before leaving, we fire it up and check that it is running smoothly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor has not run need about half an hour once our technicians arrive. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. It's worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Smallbridge, briefly
Smallbridge is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated on the riverside with views across the surrounding landscape. Smallbridge has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterized by terraced homes, and is located near other local places such as Hurstead and Buckley. Smallbridge sits at an elevation of 152 metres, and is approximately 11.6 miles from Manchester, making it a commuter base for the city. Smallbridge is also part of the wider North West region, with London around 169.3 miles to the south.
AdBlue drains in Smallbridge and across Greater Manchester
Over OL postcodes, our teams that cover Smallbridge — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Howarth Cross and Buckley included. Fastest of all: give a OL12 9 postcode for our van.
The car remains put. Wherever it stands — beside Smallbridge Library, in a layby heading to Wardle War Memorial Garden, on a drive — that's where it gets emptied. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Wardle War Memorial? By a border? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
In short, for Smallbridge people
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere in Greater Manchester.