Aston Fields: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, keep your ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Aston Fields. Reading before the event? In that case the rest explains why it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Aston Fields and Finstall carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler on each tank. Many of motors have a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what filler it needs. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Aston Fields?
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off South Road before work, or in the car park outside The Ladybird on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the vehicle warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where your hand reaches — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: an unfamiliar car.
No part halts the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, whether in St Godwalds or bang in the centre of Aston Fields.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Be it a Aston Fields forecourt or a driveway out in Slideslow, spend a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives if your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Bromsgrove, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Wherever across Worcestershire the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush by Stoke Road on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. 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.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Aston Fields?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. Don't switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — Morrisons, BP or another — the attendants will usually help roll the car clear, when you ask. Your own driveway in Aston Fields is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Leave the M5 — under 3 miles out of Aston Fields — at the first exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Worcester, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Aston Fields.
When our engineers get there around Aston Fields, what happens?
Our van reaches the car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near Jets Craft Café, or outside Charford First School. Those answers decide this work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. Nobody sets off before you have heard our quote by phone.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, certain metals corrode, and nothing washes away on its own, however long it sits. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Next we start the car and confirm it runs correctly before we go.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our technicians get there, provided the engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Aston Fields, briefly
Aston Fields is a suburban area located on the riverside in Worcestershire, with an elevation of 84 metres. Aston Fields sits near the city of Worcester, approximately 11.5 miles away, and is surrounded by nearby places such as St Godwalds and Stoney Hill. Aston Fields has a population of around 4814 people and predominantly consists of semi-detached housing. Aston Fields is also situated about 99.4 miles from London, making it a relatively accessible location.
AdBlue drains about Aston Fields, and Worcestershire beyond
Aston Fields is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Stoney Hill and Upper Gambolds among them, across the B postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a B60 3 postcode for the van.
Shifting the car isn't necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street close to The Salvation Army - Bromsgrove, a lay-by on the way to Bromsgrove Cricket Hockey & Tennis Club, a drive. Assuming won't help at the back of St Godwald, on a border, or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and ask.
Aston Fields drivers: the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Worcestershire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.