Warren: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Warren. Reading before the event? In that case what follows explains why it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels around Lower Pexhill, like those in Warren, run on two liquids; your motor gets just the diesel. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from its own tank.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt visit, week in, week out. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Warren: how it takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
On a drive off Church Lane before work, or in the car park at Harrington Arms on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it is empty, limp mode follows.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it happens in Gawsworth or the middle of Warren, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Warren forecourt or a drive over in Highlane, take a couple of seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- Plenty of motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show what belongs in each inlet just there.
- Can't see it next to the diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook says where.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Macclesfield? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is in Cheshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Dark Lane, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Both behind one flap? So make sure the cap on the diesel side stays shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Stop when the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently using the built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, and check once more — making sure your diesel cap remained closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Skip step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Warren?
Short list, then. First: your engine remains unstarted. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — so leave it off. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Shell, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. At home in Warren? So the vehicle stays where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. The next junction is where to come off when you are on the M6, under 10 miles from Warren. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Stoke-on-Trent, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Warren.
Our arrival in Warren, and what takes place next
Outside Gawsworth Primary School, close to Gawsworth Village Sign or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run, since the answers determine the work and the price. You get that price by phone, before anyone sets off.
Then your tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed 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 the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. After the filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and then your car is tested. After that our technicians fire it up and make sure it runs properly before we leave.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run take about half an hour after our engineers arrive. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Warren
Warren is a small suburban area in Cheshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 150 metres. Warren lies near the villages of Gawsworth and Moss Houses, and is close to the Danes Moss area. Warren is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its residential nature. Warren is located approximately 14.5 miles from Stoke-on-Trent and 147 miles from London.
Warren and Cheshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout SK postcodes, the teams that cover Warren — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Danes Moss and Moss Houses included. Quote a postcode that starts SK11 9, and the van gets there quickest.
The vehicle remains put. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Gawsworth Village Hall, a lay-by on the way to Gawsworth Park, a drive. Assuming doesn't help behind St James' Church, Gawsworth, on a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
For Warren motorists, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, wherever across Cheshire: switch the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.