Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Wheelock Heath: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, leave your ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your engine hasn't turned, it is drained and fully rinsed where the car sits around Wheelock Heath. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many current diesels on the roads around Wheelock Heath and Malkins Bank carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. That gap is where the mistake lives.
Wheelock Heath: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Alsager Road, or heading home in the car park at The Foresters Arms.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as readily, and after the pour starts, nothing halts it. Whether it happens in Winterley or the middle of Wheelock Heath, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Haslington or a forecourt around Wheelock Heath.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Sandbach.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Cheshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Crewe Road, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly through the built-in spout.
- Only then, 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 the diesel side, stop there. Leave out stage five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Wheelock Heath?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting your motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
The staff at Shell, BP or another forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the vehicle clear if asked. Your own drive in Wheelock Heath is where it stays.
Where the engine has run already, pull over somewhere safe and turn it off. On the M6, under 3 miles from Wheelock Heath, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Wheelock Heath is less a job than a run of under 15 miles to Stoke-on-Trent, so tell us.
Wheelock Heath: what takes place when our engineers arrive
Wherever your car has stopped, whether by The Dingle Primary School, near Wheelock Heath Baptist Church or on your own drive, our van travels to it. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the answers decide both work and quote. Nobody heads out until you've heard our quote by phone.
Then that tank is drained and your system cleaned thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. After the filter has been flushed — or renewed, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and finally the car gets tested. Before we go, we fire it up and make sure that it's running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after our technicians get there, as long as your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Wheelock Heath and where it is
Wheelock Heath is a village in Cheshire, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of 64 metres, with a mix of rural and suburban characteristics. Wheelock Heath lies near the villages of Winterley and Wheelock, and is close to Hassall, forming part of a network of small communities in the area. Wheelock Heath has a population of around 1082 people, predominantly living in detached houses.
AdBlue drains around Wheelock Heath and across Cheshire
Wheelock and Hassall are among the places around Wheelock Heath, a village, that the same vans cover, throughout CW postcodes. Fastest of all: quote a CW11 4 postcode to the van.
There's no need to move your car. Draining takes place right there, be it a driveway, a road by Christ Church, or a layby on the way to Haslington Playing Fields. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Plymouth Brethren Christian Church? By a border? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
For Wheelock Heath people, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it stands, anywhere in Cheshire: switch it off and call 0333 366 0103.