Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Aldersley: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. In Aldersley, catching it before your engine turns usually means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. 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 does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel goes to the motor — but plenty of current diesels driven about Aldersley and Stockwell End hold a second liquid as well. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where a spray treats the gas.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the pump happens constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Aldersley: how it occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a driveway off Hugh Porter Way before work, or in the car park at The Pilot heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar motor.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and after the pour begins, nothing halts it. Blakeley Green or the heart of Aldersley: it takes the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Dunstall Hill or a forecourt around Aldersley.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Bilbrook? Ask whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Wherever across West Midlands the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Kestrel Rise, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it works.
- The two behind one flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel filler stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Leave out step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Aldersley?
Short list, then. First: the motor stays off. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, right where the fuel is taken from.
On a forecourt — Esso, another forecourt nearby or any other — the staff will normally help push the car clear, if you ask. Your own drive in Aldersley is where it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. Aldersley lies under 3 miles from the M54; there, use the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Aldersley is less work than a run of under 3 miles to Wolverhampton, so tell us.
Aldersley: what takes place when we turn up
The van comes to your car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, near Wolves Indoor Football Academy, or outside Claregate Primary School. Both the work and our quote depend on three replies — what fluid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. Nobody sets off before you've had our quote over the phone.
Draining the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the 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. The filter cleaned or, where needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a check of your car. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. It's worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Aldersley itself
Aldersley is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, near the River Staffordshire, with an elevation of around 123 metres. Aldersley sits close to several nearby places, including Blakeley Green, Claregate, and Palmers Cross, and is about 1.7 miles from Wolverhampton city centre. Aldersley is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock and is home to a population of approximately 3703 residents. Aldersley is situated in the West Midlands region, around 114.7 miles northwest of London.
Aldersley and West Midlands: AdBlue drains across the area
Claregate and Palmers Cross are among the towns around Aldersley, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout WV postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting WV6 9.
The vehicle does not need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Black Country Millennium Forest, a side street close to Aldersley Leisure Village: our technicians drain it where it is. Tricky to explain, like the back of Aldersley Stadium? By a border? Checking is better than assuming, so ring.
For Aldersley motorists, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it wherever it is, anywhere in West Midlands: keep the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.