Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tunstead: Why It Happens
Leave the engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Caught before the engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Tunstead. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it occurs and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds the engine — but many newer diesels seen round Tunstead and Waterside hold a second liquid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank comes with one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that's the arrangement on a lot of motors. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Tunstead
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Tunstead Lane before work, or in the car park outside The Clarence heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it takes place in Bunkers or the middle of Tunstead, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Lower Arthurs or a forecourt in Tunstead, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Check the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- On many cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many cars carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Greenfield.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
When the light goes on, anywhere across Greater Manchester, follow this routine.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, motor off, and never rushed by Haw Clough Lane at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both sit under a flap, confirm it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? So stop right there. Leave out step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Tunstead already?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the engine. Leave your ignition off too, since on plenty of diesels switching it on alone starts your pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
On a forecourt — Gulf, Shell or any other — the staff will normally help roll the vehicle clear, when you ask. On your own drive around Tunstead? Then the vehicle remains put.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then turn off. Tunstead sits under 10 miles from the M67; there, use the first junction. A short hop across Tunstead is a smaller job than a run towards Manchester, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
What occurs when we arrive around Tunstead
Wherever your car has stopped, whether by Greenfield St Mary's CofE School, beside St Mary or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run, because those replies decide the work and the price. No one heads out until you have heard the quote by phone.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away unaided. Hence it counts more. After the fuel filter has been flushed — or renewed, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then your car gets tested. Next our technicians start the engine and confirm it runs correctly before leaving.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our technicians get there, as long as the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet at night outside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Tunstead
Tunstead is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated near the River Mersey and characterised by detached housing. Tunstead sits at an elevation of 241 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Tunstead is located near several smaller communities, including Bunkers and Boarshurst, and is within commuting distance of Manchester. Tunstead remains a relatively small and residential community, with a population of around 1266 people.
AdBlue drains around Tunstead, and Greater Manchester beyond
Tunstead is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the places around it, Fur Lane and Boarshurst among them, across the OL postcode area. A postcode starting OL3 7 gets our van to you fastest.
The vehicle does not need to move. Draining happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a street by Pots and Pans, or a layby towards Churchill Playing Fields. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Greenfield Methodist Church.
Tunstead people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it is, wherever around Greater Manchester: keep it off then call 0333 366 0103.