Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Whinny Heights
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Whinny Heights. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels in Longshaw, like those in Whinny Heights, run on two liquids; your motor takes only your diesel. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank.
Different tanks, different fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Whinny Heights
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Elgar Close before work, or in the car park at Clifton Arms on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: a new motor.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. Whether it takes place in Whinny Edge or the middle of Whinny Heights, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Whinny Heights or a driveway over in Park Place. A few seconds, no more.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Blackburn.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
When the light goes on, wherever around Lancashire, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Manxman Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both share a flap, make sure it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Whinny Heights?
The short order of things, starting with not starting your 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 that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The attendants at Texaco, Asda or another forecourt will normally help to push your car away when asked. Your own driveway around Whinny Heights is the place it stays.
When the motor has run by now, stop somewhere safe and turn the vehicle off. On the M65, under 3 miles from Whinny Heights, that means the next exit. Mileage matters — a short hop across Whinny Heights makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Preston — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Whinny Heights, and what occurs next
Our van comes to the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near Kaleidoscope Youth Centre, or by St Mary's and St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School Blackburn. We ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run, because those replies determine this work and our price. The price comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Once your filter is flushed — or renewed, if required — fresh diesel is added, and finally the vehicle is tested. Next we fire it up and make sure it runs properly before leaving.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once we arrive, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. No money in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Whinny Heights
Whinny Heights is a suburban area situated on the lakeside in Lancashire, with an elevation of 191 metres. Whinny Heights lies approximately 9.5 miles from Preston and 182.5 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Whinny Heights is characterised by its semi-detached housing and is surrounded by nearby places such as Whinny Edge, Grimshaw Park, and Higher Croft.
AdBlue drains across Lancashire, Whinny Heights included
Grimshaw Park and Higher Croft are among the places near Whinny Heights, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout BB postcodes. Quote a postcode beginning BB2 3, and our van arrives fastest.
There's no need to shift the car. Draining happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a street by Roman Road Library, or a layby on the way to Queen's Park. Awkward to explain, like the back of Christ Church? By a border? Checking is better than guessing, and so ring.
In short, for Whinny Heights people
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Lancashire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.