Warton: 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 the motor and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where the car stands in Warton, is normally what it takes if found before the motor runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page explains the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels around Yealand Conyers, as well as Warton, carry on two liquids; the engine takes just your diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for every tank. Plenty of motors share a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at each forecourt visit, week in, week out. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what filler it needs. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Warton?
Carelessness seldom explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and running dry leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Crag Road, or at George Washington on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it happens in Millhead or the middle of Warton, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Tewitfield or a forecourt around Warton.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position.
- On many vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Carnforth? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is across Lancashire — a simple routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Main Street.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've found the filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your 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.
- Shut the cap, and check again — making sure the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. After that, start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Stage five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Warton already?
Short list, then. Top of that: the engine stays unstarted. Keep the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — Esso, Logs Direct or another — the staff will normally help push your car away, if you ask. Your own driveway in Warton is where it stays.
Already run? Stop once it is sensible, then turn off. On the M6, under 3 miles from Warton, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Warton is smaller work than a trip of under 10 miles to Lancaster, so tell us.
When our engineers arrive around Warton, what takes place?
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, be it outside Warton Archbishop Hutton's VC Primary School, beside St Oswald Church Hall or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Those answers determine the work and the price, and so our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. You get that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once your tank is cleared. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears out unaided. That is why it counts more. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we leave, our engineers fire it up and confirm that it is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after we arrive, provided the engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Warton, briefly
Warton is a small village in Lancashire, situated near the coast and approximately 6.7 miles from Lancaster. Warton has a population of around 1439 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Warton sits at a low elevation of 22 metres, close to nearby places such as Millhead and Carnforth. Warton is located in the North West region of England, about 213 miles from London.
AdBlue drains round Warton, and Lancashire beyond
Over LA postcodes, our vans covering Warton — a coastal village — work the surrounding spots too, Crag Foot and Carnforth included. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting LA5 9.
There's no need to move the vehicle. Draining takes place right there, be it a driveway, a road near Warton Village Hall, or a layby on the way to The Roods Playing Field. Guessing won't help at the back of St Oswald's Church, close to a border, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
For Warton drivers, the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around Lancashire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave it off and call 0333 366 0103.