Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Waterloo: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out just where the vehicle sits around Waterloo, is usually what it takes when found before your motor runs. The rest of this page covers why it happens and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels around Accrington, like those in Waterloo, run on two liquids; the engine takes only your diesel. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Waterloo?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Owen Street before work, or in the car park at The Grey Horse Hotel on the way home.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your 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 tip after it has started. Lower Fold or the heart of Waterloo: it takes the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, at a forecourt in Waterloo or a driveway over in Barnfield. Seconds, no more.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside your diesel filler? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Accrington, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Lancashire that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Marlborough Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- Both behind a single flap? Then make sure the cap on the diesel side stays shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five altogether.
Waterloo: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is sucked from.
At a forecourt — Shell, Texaco or any other — the staff will normally help roll the car clear, if you ask. If you're on your own driveway around Waterloo, leave the vehicle where it is.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M65, under 3 miles from Waterloo, that means the next exit. A short hop across Waterloo is a smaller job than a run towards Preston, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
What occurs when our engineers get there in Waterloo
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Accrington St John with St Augustine Church of England Primary School, close to St. John's Church or on your own driveway. Which fluid went in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask since those replies decide the work and price. You get that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The motor is started next and checked to be sure it runs smoothly, all before we go.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Waterloo
Waterloo is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. Waterloo sits at an elevation of 153 metres, approximately 13.7 miles from Preston, and is near other local places such as Lower Fold, Milnshaw, and Laneside. Waterloo has a population of around 9055 people and is located in the North West region of England, about 181.6 miles from London.
Waterloo and Lancashire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout BB postcodes, our teams covering Waterloo — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Laneside and Milnshaw included. Quickest of all: quote a BB5 6 postcode to the van.
The car doesn't need to shift. The drain takes place right there, whether a driveway, a road by St Mary Magdalen, or a lay-by on the way to Milnshaw Park. Guessing won't help behind Accrington Arndale Centre, on a border, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
Waterloo drivers: the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it stands, wherever in Lancashire: keep the car off then phone 0333 366 0103.