Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Beaconside: Why It Happens
Keep the motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. A drain plus a thorough flush, done just where the vehicle stands in Beaconside, is normally what it takes if caught before the motor runs. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the motor — yet many newer diesels seen about Beaconside and Broadeye hold another liquid too. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. It is in the gap that the mistake happens.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Beaconside: how it takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and letting it run out means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Garrod Square, perhaps at Metropolitan Bar on the way home that evening.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar vehicle.
No part stops the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, whether in Littleworth or bang in the heart of Beaconside.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Forebridge or a forecourt around Beaconside, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- Cannot see it beside your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you collect a rental or company car — from Stafford's car park, say — not once the warning comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere around Staffordshire, use this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, motor off, and never in a rush by Stirling Court at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Never go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Beaconside already?
The short order of things, starting with no starting your engine. Leave the ignition off as well, because on many diesels it alone starts your fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Shell or the Esso, ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump. Your own driveway in Beaconside is the place it should stay.
Where the engine has been run by now, stop somewhere safe and switch the car off. On the M6, under 3 miles from Beaconside, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Beaconside is less a job than a run of under 15 miles to Lichfield, so say.
What occurs when we turn up in Beaconside
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St John's CofE Primary Academy, close to Parish Church of St John the Baptist or on your own driveway. Both the work and the price depend on three answers — which liquid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. You get that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, after that tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter cleaned or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a test of your car. We don't go until it has been started and is running correctly.
If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Beaconside, briefly
Beaconside is a suburban area in Staffordshire, situated near the River Sow and close to the city of Stafford. Beaconside has a mix of semi-detached housing and is located at an elevation of around 85 metres, with nearby places including Littleworth and Kingston Hill. Beaconside is part of the wider West Midlands region, but remains a distinct community with its own character. Beaconside is also within commuting distance of larger cities, with Lichfield just 14.5 miles away and London approximately 123 miles to the southeast.
AdBlue drains across Staffordshire, Beaconside included
Over ST postcodes, our vans that cover Beaconside — a residential suburb — work the nearby spots too, Stafford and Kingston Hill among them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting ST16 3.
Your car does not need to move. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Hospital Field, a side street near Nanak Sar Gurdawara: our engineers drain the vehicle where it sits. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Beaconside motorists: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Staffordshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.