Bewdley: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, leave your ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a thorough flush, done just where your vehicle sits in Bewdley, is usually all it needs if caught before the motor runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels in Hales Park, as well as Bewdley, run on two liquids; the engine takes only your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both together behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens in Bewdley
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Haste comes from the warning. Your car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off B4190, or heading home in the car park at The Real Ale Tavern.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as easily, and after the pour starts, no part stops it. It's a few seconds, whether in Wribbenhall or bang in the heart of Bewdley.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Catchems End or a forecourt in Bewdley.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Plenty of cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Kidderminster, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the light appears — anywhere you are across Worcestershire — a routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Severnside North.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, yet it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and check again — making sure the diesel filler remained closed throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't carry on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bewdley?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Texaco, Esso or any forecourt will usually help to push your car clear if asked. At home around Bewdley? Then your car stays where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. The next junction means the place to come off if you're on the M5, under 10 miles from Bewdley. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Worcester, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Bewdley.
Our arrival around Bewdley, and what happens next
Our van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near Bewdley Museum, or by Bewdley Primary School. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — what liquid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. You hear that price on the phone, before anybody heads out.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Your engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs properly, all before our technicians head off.
If the motor hasn't 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 at night. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Bewdley itself
Bewdley is a town situated on the River Severn in Worcestershire, with a population of around 9029 people. Bewdley sits at an elevation of 27 metres, close to the nearby villages of Wribbenhall and Bark Hill. Bewdley has a mix of housing types, but detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. Bewdley is located near the popular recreational area known as The Lakes, and is within commuting distance of Worcester, which is 13.2 miles away.
Bewdley and Worcestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout DY postcodes, the teams that cover Bewdley — a riverside town — work the nearby places too, The Lakes and Bark Hill included. Give a postcode that starts DY12 2, and our van arrives fastest.
The vehicle remains put. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Stanley Baldwin, a lay-by on the way to Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Gardens, a drive. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St Anne's, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Bewdley drivers
Pour no AdBlue till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Worcestershire.