AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Alberbury: How It Occurs and How to Avoid It
Stop reading a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Alberbury. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels around Stanford, like those in Alberbury, run on two fluids; the engine takes just the diesel. 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 one filler of its own. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Alberbury: how it happens
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste comes from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off B4393, or on the way home in the car park at the pub in the village.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is a second thing: a strange vehicle.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. It takes a few seconds, whether in Eyton or right in the centre of Alberbury.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt around Alberbury or a drive over in Rowton. A few seconds, no more.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles mark what belongs in each inlet right there.
- Can't find it beside the diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Shrewsbury, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, wherever in Shropshire, follow this routine.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Rowton Avenue at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, shut the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Leave out stage five entirely.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Alberbury?
Don't start your motor: that's how the short order of things starts. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Essar or the Shell, ask the attendants to help roll the car away from the petrol pump. Your own driveway around Alberbury is where it stays.
Where your engine has been run already, stop safely then switch the vehicle off. Leave the M54 — under 25 miles out of Alberbury — at the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Wrexham, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Alberbury.
When our technicians get there in Alberbury, what happens?
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, be it outside Trinity CofE Primary School, near Alberbury Castle or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — which fluid, what quantity, and if it's run — so we ask. During the phone call itself, you hear the quote — before anything else.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more here than with petrol. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or changed as needed. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our technicians get there, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps we use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Alberbury, briefly
Alberbury is a small village in Shropshire, situated inland at an elevation of 94 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Alberbury lies near the villages of Eyton and Coedway, and is close to the heathland of Wattlesborough Heath. Alberbury is located approximately 22.5 miles from Wrexham and 146.3 miles from London, making it a rural community with a relatively small population of around 565 residents. Alberbury remains a quiet village with a strong sense of community.
Alberbury and Shropshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over SY postcodes, the vans covering Alberbury — a rural village — work the surrounding locations too, Wattlesborough Heath and Coedway among them. A postcode starting SY5 9 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle does not need to move. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Alberbury Village Hall, a lay-by on the way to Rock Plantation, a drive. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St Michael & All Angels? By a border? Checking beats guessing, so ring.
Alberbury drivers: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it is, wherever around Shropshire: keep the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.