AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Town Lane: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
Leave your motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where your vehicle sits in Town Lane, is usually what it needs when caught before your motor runs. Here in advance? Then the rest covers why it happens and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that is how plenty of modern diesels around Town Lane and Blackmoor carry, with diesel for the engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs in Town Lane
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a driveway off Abbotts Green before work, or in the car park at Cart and Horses heading home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Lark Hill or the heart of Town Lane: it is the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Higher Green or a forecourt around Town Lane.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Atherton's car park, perhaps — not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
When the light comes on, anywhere in Greater Manchester, use this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Manchester Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It sounds daft. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Finish once your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently using its own spout.
- Close the cap, and check again — confirm your diesel filler stayed closed throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Town Lane?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. Keep your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, right where fuel is taken from.
At a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, BP or any other — the staff will normally help roll your car away, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Town Lane.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next exit means where to leave if you're on the M62, under 3 miles from Town Lane. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Salford, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Town Lane.
When our technicians arrive in Town Lane, what takes place?
Outside St Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School, close to St Ambrose Barlow or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. What fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask since those replies decide the work and price. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Then the tank is emptied and your system rinsed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. After the fuel filter has been cleaned — or replaced, if required — fresh diesel is added, and then your car is tested. After that our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before we leave.
If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Town Lane itself
Town Lane is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated near the riverside with an elevation of around 25 metres. Town Lane lies close to several nearby places, including Lark Hill, Astley, and Astley Green, and is approximately 6.9 miles from the city of Salford. Town Lane has a population of around 2253 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains round Town Lane, and Greater Manchester beyond
Astley and Astley Green are among the places around Town Lane, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout M postcodes. A postcode starting M29 7 gets our van to you fastest.
The car does not need to shift. We drain it where it is — a side street near Astley MX, a lay-by on the way to Astley Driving Range, a driveway. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Stephen's CE Church, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Town Lane motorists: the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in Greater Manchester, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — and so leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.