AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bearwood: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Leave your engine and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In Bearwood, catching it before your motor turns usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Reading in advance? Then what follows explains how it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one liquid but two: that's what many modern diesels near Bearwood and Summerfield Park run, with diesel for your engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of cars have a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on every forecourt visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur around Bearwood?
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Rutland Road, or heading home in the car park at The Pub At Bearwood.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's the second thing: a new 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 once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Bearwood or out in Warley Woods.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Smethwick or a forecourt in Bearwood.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- On plenty of motors, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel filler? In that case check below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Smethwick Rolfe Street.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever across West Midlands, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Poplar Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located your filler and read it.
- Both behind one flap? Then confirm the cap on your diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Step five is out.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Bearwood?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Esso, the JET or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Bearwood.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M5, under 3 miles from Bearwood, that means the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Birmingham, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Bearwood.
When our engineers get there around Bearwood, what happens?
By Bearwood Primary School, near Sandon Road Methodist Church or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. What liquid got in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask since the replies set both work and quote. On the call itself, you hear the price — before anything else.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that clears away unaided. That is why it counts more. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of the car. Before we go, our technicians start it and confirm that it's running properly.
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 busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Bearwood itself
Bearwood is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Rea and close to the city of Birmingham. Bearwood has a mix of terraced housing and local amenities, and is located near Warley Woods and other green spaces. Bearwood sits at an elevation of 184 metres, and is approximately 2.7 miles from Birmingham city centre. Bearwood is also near to other local areas, including Cape Hill and Beech Lanes.
Bearwood and West Midlands: AdBlue drains across the area
Cape Hill and Beech Lanes are among the towns near Bearwood, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over B postcodes. Fastest of all: quote a B66 4 postcode to our van.
Moving the car is not needed. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Bearwood Indoor Market, a lay-by on the way to Avery Fields, a driveway. Guessing doesn't help at the back of Bear in a Wood, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
The short version for Bearwood motorists
Always, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere around West Midlands.