Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Whaley Bridge: Why It Happens
Keep your motor and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In Whaley Bridge, finding it before the motor turns normally means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
No single liquid but two: that's how plenty of modern diesels near Whaley Bridge and Dowry run, with diesel for your motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors have a single flap for both, while some move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Whaley Bridge?
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Market Street before work, or in the car park at The Railway on the way home.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: a new vehicle.
Nothing stops the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it happens in New Horwich or the middle of Whaley Bridge, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Whaley Bridge forecourt or a driveway over in Over Leigh, take a few seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside the nearest station? Ask the person who drove it last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, wherever in Derbyshire, follow this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Canal Street.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located your filler and read the cap.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, confirm it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Discover at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Never carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Whaley Bridge already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Tesco or the New Mills Marina Diesel Pump, ask the staff to help push the car away from the pump. At home around Whaley Bridge? Then your car stays where it is.
Already started? Pull over when it's safe, then switch off. Leave the M60 — under 10 miles out of Whaley Bridge — at the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Manchester, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Whaley Bridge.
When our technicians turn up in Whaley Bridge, what takes place?
The van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Mechanics Institute, or outside Whaley Bridge Primary School. Our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run, because the replies decide the work and our quote. The quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then that tank is drained and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour after our technicians are there. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Whaley Bridge and where it is
Whaley Bridge is a town situated on the edge of a lake in Derbyshire, with a mix of detached housing and other residential properties. Whaley Bridge sits at an elevation of 170 metres, looking out over the surrounding countryside. Whaley Bridge is located near several smaller communities, including New Horwich, Hockerley, and Stoneheads, and is within commuting distance of Manchester, which is 14.9 miles away. Whaley Bridge has a population of approximately 5263 people.
AdBlue drains about Whaley Bridge, and Derbyshire beyond
Whaley Bridge is a town, and the teams that cover it also work the places near it, Hockerley and Stoneheads among them, across the SK postcode area. A postcode starting SK23 7 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to move your car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Whaley Bridge Library, a lay-by on the way to Bings Wood, a driveway. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Footsteps, on a border, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
For Whaley Bridge motorists, the short version
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere across Derbyshire.