How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Witherslack
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the motor hasn't turned, it's drained and fully rinsed where your car sits around Witherslack. 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 newer diesels around Low Newton, as well as Witherslack, carry on two fluids; your engine gets just the diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where spraying treats the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Witherslack: how it occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a drive off Church Road before work, or in the car park at The Derby Arms heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: a strange car.
No part stops the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, whether out in Town End or right in the centre of Witherslack.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Witherslack or a drive out in High Newton. A few seconds, that's all.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Arnside.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere across Cumbria the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Holme Road, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your 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 gently through the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, and look again — confirm the diesel cap remained closed throughout. After that, start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Witherslack: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Thinning it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the BP or the Esso, ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the pump. Your own driveway around Witherslack is where it stays.
Where the engine has been run by now, pull over somewhere safe and switch the car off. On the M6, under 10 miles from Witherslack, that means the next exit. A short hop across Witherslack is a smaller job than a run towards Lancaster, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Witherslack, and what happens next
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Dean Barwick Primary School, close to Barwick Hall or on your own drive. Which liquid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because the answers decide both work and quote. On the call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of dispatch.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. That is why it matters more. Once the filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where required — fresh diesel is added, and finally your vehicle gets tested. Before we go, our technicians start the car and make sure that it is running correctly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we get there, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Witherslack, briefly
Witherslack is a small village in Cumbria, situated near the coast and approximately 13.9 miles from Lancaster. Witherslack has a population of around 530 people and is characterised by detached housing. Witherslack sits at an elevation of 49 metres, with nearby places including Town End, Beck Head, and Mill Side.
Witherslack and Cumbria: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout LA postcodes, our teams that cover Witherslack — a coastal village — work the surrounding locations too, Mill Side and Beck Head included. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting LA11 6.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to St. Paul's, a lay-by on the way to Yewbarrow, a driveway. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Witherslack War Memorial, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; phone and check.
The short version for Witherslack motorists
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave it off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere across Cumbria.