Walmersley: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Stop here for a moment when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. In Walmersley, finding it before your engine turns usually means draining and a full flush where it stands. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the engine — but plenty of newer diesels seen around Walmersley and Limefield carry a second fluid too. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Walmersley?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Barnside Close, or on the way home in the car park outside Masons Arms.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
Nothing stops the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, whether in Bevis Green or bang in the centre of Walmersley.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these first, at a forecourt in Walmersley or a driveway out in Wood Road. Seconds, no more.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Bromley Cross.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever in Greater Manchester the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Burnley Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Leave out step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Walmersley already?
Brief list, then. First: the motor remains unstarted. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Esso, EG On the Move or another forecourt will normally help pushing the car away when you ask. At home in Walmersley? So the car remains where it is.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction is where to leave when you are on the M66, under a mile from Walmersley. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Walmersley is a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Salford — so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians get there around Walmersley, what takes place?
Anywhere the car came to rest, be it by Springside Primary School, beside Christ Church or on your own drive, our van travels to it. What liquid got in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because those replies decide the work and quote. The quote comes over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Draining that tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. That is why it counts more. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of the vehicle. The motor is started next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before our engineers go.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run need roughly half an hour after we arrive. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Walmersley, briefly
Walmersley is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated near the River Irwell and characterised by semi-detached housing. Walmersley sits at an elevation of 131 metres, approximately 9.6 miles from Salford and 172.1 miles from London. Walmersley is surrounded by other local places, including Bevis Green, Carr Bank, and Baldingstone, and has a population of around 2427 residents.
AdBlue drains around Walmersley, and Greater Manchester beyond
Throughout BL postcodes, our vans that cover Walmersley — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Baldingstone and Carr Bank included. A postcode starting BL9 5 gets the van to you fastest.
Your car stays where it is. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Burrs Country Park, a side street near Picnic Area: our engineers drain the vehicle where it is. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Stone Cycle, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
For Walmersley drivers, the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave it switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Greater Manchester.