Waterloo: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Stop here a minute when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where your car stands in Waterloo, is usually all it needs if caught before your engine runs. Reading in advance? Then the rest covers how it happens and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels in Brighton le Sands, as well as Waterloo, carry on two liquids; your motor gets only the diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place the two together under one flap. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think what filler it needs. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Waterloo: how it happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Oxford Road, perhaps outside The Volunteer Canteen on the way home after work.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a rental car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as readily, and once the tip starts, nothing stops it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Waterloo or out in Crosby.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt in Waterloo or a driveway out in Great Crosby. Seconds, no more.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many cars mark which belongs in which filler just there.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Waterloo (Merseyside)'s car park, say — not when the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever across Merseyside the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Wellington Street.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've found the filler and read it.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never came off.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Waterloo: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Leave your ignition off as well, because on many diesels it by itself runs the pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
The staff at Shell, Texaco or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car clear if asked. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Waterloo.
Already started? Pull over when it is safe, then turn off. Leave the M57 — under 5 miles out of Waterloo — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Liverpool, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Waterloo.
Waterloo: what takes place when our technicians arrive
Our van comes to the car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, near St John's Church, or outside St John's Church of England Primary School. Our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it has run, since those answers decide this work and the quote. The price is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. The filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; then a check of your car. We don't leave until it has been started and is running correctly.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Waterloo itself
Waterloo is a suburban area in Merseyside, situated on the coast of the Irish Sea, with Waterloo Park providing a green space for residents. Waterloo has a mix of housing types, but terraced houses are predominant, reflecting the area's historical development. Waterloo is located near the towns of Crosby and Seaforth, and is approximately 5 miles from Liverpool. Waterloo sits at a low elevation of around 14 metres above sea level, close to the shoreline.
AdBlue drains across Merseyside, Waterloo included
Being a residential suburb, Waterloo shares its vans nearby areas — Waterloo Park, Seaforth — all the way across L postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting L22 5.
The car does not need to move. The drain happens on the spot, whether a drive, a street near St Edmund Of Canterbury Church, or a layby on the way to Adelaide Garden. Guessing doesn't help behind Plaza, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
For Waterloo motorists, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the car switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, throughout Merseyside.