Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Acocks Green: Why It Occurs
Pause here for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. In Acocks Green, finding it before the motor runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. Here in advance? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels in Hay Mills, like those in Acocks Green, run on two liquids; the motor takes only the diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each filling station call-out, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Acocks Green?
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
Haste follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Overlea Avenue, or heading home in the car park at The Spread Eagle.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing stops the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Acocks Green or out in Tyseley.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Acocks Green forecourt or a driveway out in Hall Green, spend a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- On plenty of motors, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles mark which belongs in which inlet just there.
- Can't see it next to the diesel filler? In that case check below the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook says where.
- Check with 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 Spring Road.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Anywhere across West Midlands the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, engine off, and never in a rush beside Aspen Close on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It seems daft. It works.
- The two behind a single flap? So make sure the lid on your diesel side is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — confirm the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. After that, start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
Acocks Green: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief order, then. Top of that: the engine remains off. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Esso, Shell or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car clear if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Acocks Green.
Where the engine has run by now, stop somewhere safe and switch it off. Acocks Green lies under 5 miles from the Aston Expressway; there, take the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Acocks Green is smaller work than a run of under 5 miles to Birmingham, so tell us.
What happens when our engineers arrive around Acocks Green
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, whether by Acocks Green Primary School, near Acocks Green Christian Centre or on your own drive, the van travels to it. The replies settle the work and our price, and so our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run. You hear that price by phone, before anyone sets off.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. A test comes last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed if necessary. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Unrun vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit from arrival. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Acocks Green itself
Acocks Green is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated approximately 3.9 miles southeast of Birmingham city centre. Acocks Green sits at an elevation of around 134 metres, in a gently sloping area of the Midlands landscape. Acocks Green is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, with nearby places including Tyseley, Stockfield, and South Yardley. Acocks Green is located about 97 miles northwest of London, making it a commuter hub for those working in the capital.
AdBlue drains about Acocks Green, and West Midlands beyond
Acocks Green is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places near it, Stockfield and South Yardley among them, across the B postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting B27 7.
The car doesn't need to move. We drain it where it is — a side street near Church of God of Prophecy, a lay-by on the way to Acocks Green Recreation Ground, a drive. Assuming doesn't help at the back of Laser Quest, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
The short version for Acocks Green people
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across West Midlands, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.