Woolton: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. Around Woolton, finding it before the engine turns usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest 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 the engine — but plenty of current diesels seen about Woolton and Belle Vale carry another fluid as well. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has a filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Woolton
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
On a drive off Garden Street before work, or in the car park at The Wine Bar heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where your hand reaches — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is a second factor: a strange vehicle.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once started, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Woolton or out in Gateacre.
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 Calderstones or a forecourt around Woolton.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- The handbook says which it lives if the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Hunts Cross? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, not when the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Wherever around Merseyside the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of St Marys Street, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Step five is out.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Woolton?
Short list, then. Top of that: your motor stays off. Leave your ignition off as well, because on many diesels it alone starts your pump. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, just where fuel is taken from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Morrisons or the Asda, ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump. Your own drive in Woolton is the place it should stay.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Woolton sits under 3 miles from the M62; on it, use the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Woolton is less a job than a run of under 10 miles to Liverpool, and so tell us.
When our technicians arrive around Woolton, what happens?
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Bishop Martin Church of England Primary School, Woolton, near Woolton Lifestyles or on your own drive. The replies decide this work and the price, so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. On the phone call itself, you hear the price — ahead of anything else.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once the tank is cleared. 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 matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. After the fuel filter is flushed — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally your vehicle is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our engineers go.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run need about half an hour after our technicians are there. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Woolton
Woolton is a suburban area in Merseyside, situated approximately 5 miles south of Liverpool city centre. Woolton sits on the coastal plain, with an elevation of around 61 metres, and is bordered by nearby places such as Gateacre and Allerton. Woolton is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the area's development as a residential suburb. Woolton remains a popular and settled community within the wider Liverpool urban area.
Woolton and Merseyside: AdBlue drains across the area
Woolton is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the places near it, Allerton and Hunts Cross among them, across the L postcode area. Quickest of all: give a L25 7 postcode to the van.
No need to move the car. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near St. James United Church, a lay-by on the way to Woolton Woods Park, a driveway. Awkward to explain, like the back of Woolton Library? Close to a county line? Asking beats assuming, and so ring.
The short version for Woolton drivers
First, the cap; after that, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere around Merseyside.