How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Stepping Hill
Stop reading a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Stepping Hill. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Stepping Hill and Hazel Grove carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have both together under one flap. Diesel goes in at each filling station visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the error lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Stepping Hill
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Poplar Grove before work, or in the car park at The Crown heading home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and once the tip starts, no part halts it. Whether it takes place in Stockport Great Moor or the middle of Stepping Hill, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Mile End or a forecourt around Stepping Hill.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? In that case look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you collect a rental or fleet car — from Woodsmoor's car park, perhaps — rather than once the warning appears.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, wherever in Greater Manchester, follow this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Dialstone Lane.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, but it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, make sure it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap was never came off.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Step five is out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Stepping Hill?
Don't start the motor: that is how the short order of things starts. Leave the ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels it alone runs the pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Sainsbury's, Shell or another forecourt will usually help pushing the vehicle clear when you ask. On your own drive in Stepping Hill? Then the vehicle stays put.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next exit means where to leave when you're on the M60, under 3 miles from Stepping Hill. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Manchester, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Stepping Hill.
When our engineers turn up in Stepping Hill, what happens?
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Great Moor Junior School, close to Great Moor Library or on your own drive. The replies decide this work and our price, so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. On the call itself, you are told our quote — before dispatch.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing clears away on its own, however long it sits. Once your filter is cleaned — or replaced, where required — clean diesel is added, and then your car is tested. Your engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs properly, all before we leave.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine hasn't run need roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Stepping Hill
Stepping Hill is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated approximately 8 miles southeast of Manchester city centre. Stepping Hill sits at an elevation of around 94 metres, characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Stepping Hill is located near several other suburban areas, including Stockport Great Moor, Bramhall Moor, and Woods Moor, and is home to a population of around 6903 residents.
Stepping Hill and Greater Manchester: AdBlue drains across the area
Stepping Hill is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Bramhall Moor and Woods Moor among them, across the SK postcode area. A postcode starting SK2 7 gets our van to you fastest.
No need to shift your car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near St Saviour, a lay-by on the way to Boothby Street Park, a drive. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Great Moor Sports and Social Club, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
For Stepping Hill people, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around Greater Manchester, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.