West End: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Keep the motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Usually, if the engine has not run, it is emptied and thoroughly cleaned where the vehicle is in West End. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that's how plenty of modern diesels near West End and Oswaldtwistle run, with diesel feeding your engine. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to fresh it, from a separate tank.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for the two, while some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in that gap that the slip happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around West End: how it happens
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Browning Avenue, or at Trickys on the way home that evening.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and once the pour starts, no part stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of West End or out in Stanhill.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt around West End or a drive out in Alleytroyds. Seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Church & Oswaldtwistle? Ask the person who drove it last before you set off, not once the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Wherever in Lancashire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Miller Close.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It seems silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Stop once your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly through its own spout.
- Close the cap, and check again — making sure your diesel filler remained closed throughout. After that, start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around West End?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, just where fuel is taken from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the the nearest petrol station or the Asda, ask the attendants to help roll your car clear of the pump. If you are on your own drive in West End, leave it where it stands.
When your engine has been run by now, pull over safely and switch the car off. The next junction is where to come off if you're on the M65, under a mile from West End. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Preston, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across West End.
What occurs when we arrive in West End
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Oswaldtwistle West End Primary School, near All Saints or on your own drive. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it has run, since those answers settle the work and the quote. During the call itself, you are told the quote — ahead of dispatch.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes away unaided. Hence it matters more. A test comes last: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. Before we go, we start the car and check that it is running correctly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour after our engineers are there. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About West End, briefly
West End is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated on the riverside with an elevation of 142 metres. West End lies approximately 12 miles from Preston and 182 miles from London, with nearby places including Stanhill, Cote Holme, and Foxhill Bank. West End has a population of around 3513 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. West End forms a distinct residential community within the wider area.
West End and Lancashire: AdBlue drains across the area
West End is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places around it, Cote Holme and Foxhill Bank among them, across the BB postcode area. Quickest of all: give a BB5 4 postcode to the van.
Your car doesn't need to move. Anywhere it sits — beside Oswaldtwistle Library, on a lay-by heading to Church and Oswaldtwistle Cricket Club, at home — that is where it is cleared. Guessing doesn't help behind Holy Trinity, close to a border, or anywhere awkward to describe; phone and ask.
For West End motorists, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep it off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, throughout Lancashire.