Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Thingwall
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page down a moment, leave your ignition and engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where your vehicle sits around Thingwall, is normally all it takes if found before the engine runs. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels around Irby, like those in Thingwall, run on two liquids; your motor gets just your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors have a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Much less often, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. It's in that gap that the mistake happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Thingwall
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a driveway off Colemere Drive before work, or in the car park outside The Bassett Hound on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Third, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and after the pour begins, nothing stops it. It takes a few seconds, whether out in Landican or right in the heart of Thingwall.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around Thingwall or a driveway out in Poll Hill. A few seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Heswall? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Wherever across Merseyside the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, motor off, and never in a rush beside Sparks Lane on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- The two behind one flap? So make sure the lid on your diesel filler is still shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Thingwall?
The short order of things, starting with not starting the motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Sainsbury's, Texaco or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push your car clear when you ask. On your own drive in Thingwall? Then your car stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. The next junction is the place to leave if you're on the M53, under 3 miles from Thingwall. About how far did it go? Crossing Thingwall is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles to Liverpool, and so say.
When our technicians turn up around Thingwall, what occurs?
Wherever the car has stopped, whether by Thingwall Primary School, beside Thingwall Recreation Centre or on your own drive, the van travels to it. What liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the replies decide the work and price. You get that price by phone, before anyone sets off.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, after your tank is emptied. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. The filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; then a test of the vehicle. We do not go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Thingwall
Thingwall is a suburban area on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, situated approximately 62 metres above sea level and 5.9 miles from Liverpool. Thingwall is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock and is located near other local places such as Landican, Barnston, and Pensby. Thingwall has a population of around 3354 residents and is part of the larger North West England region, within commuting distance of major cities like Liverpool.
AdBlue drains around Thingwall, and Merseyside beyond
Barnston and Pensby are among the towns around Thingwall, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout CH postcodes. A postcode starting CH61 7 gets the van to you fastest.
The car remains put. The drain happens right there, be it a driveway, a street by Thingwall Methodist Church, or a lay-by towards Barnston Dale. Assuming won't help at the back of Scout Hut, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
Thingwall drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Merseyside.