Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Whittington: Why It Happens
Pause here for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Whittington. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel feeds your motor — yet many modern diesels driven around Whittington and Twmpath hold another liquid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There is a filler on each tank. 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. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Whittington?
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
On a driveway off Coal Pit Lane before work, or in the car park outside The White Lion heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
No part stops the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Babbinswood or the middle of Whittington, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Hindford or a forecourt in Whittington.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly 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.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show which belongs in each filler right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Gobowen? Ask whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Anywhere around Shropshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Yew Tree Avenue.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both share a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap, then look again — confirm your diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. After that, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to step five.
Whittington: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Do not start the motor: that is how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the vehicle on. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Swan Petroleum or the Esso, ask the staff to help push your car clear of the petrol pump. If you're on your own driveway in Whittington, leave it where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. On the M54, under 25 miles from Whittington, that means the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Wrexham, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Whittington.
When our technicians arrive in Whittington, what occurs?
Anywhere the vehicle has stopped, whether by Whittington CofE (VA) Primary School, beside Whittington Castle or at home, our van travels to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — what fluid, what amount, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. Nobody heads out before you've had our quote over the phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough 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. A test comes last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or replaced as needed. Your engine is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers go.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both 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 Whittington
Whittington is a small village in Shropshire, situated inland at an elevation of 93 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Whittington lies near the villages of Babbinswood and Middleton, and is close to the historic estate of Park Hall. Whittington is located approximately 12 miles from Wrexham and 154 miles from London, making it a rural community with a strong sense of local identity. Whittington has a population of around 930 residents, who enjoy the peaceful surroundings of the Shropshire countryside.
Whittington and Shropshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Whittington is a rural village, and the teams that cover it also work the places around it, Park Hall and Middleton among them, across the SY postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting SY11 4.
Your car doesn't need to move. The drain happens on the spot, be it a drive, a road by Whittington Community Centre, or a layby on the way to Coed-y-tye Wood. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St John the Baptist? Close to a border? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
For Whittington people, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere in Shropshire.