Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Blakeshall: 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 Blakeshall, finding it before your engine turns normally leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels in Wolverley, as well as Blakeshall, run on two liquids; your engine gets only the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at each forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Much less often, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Blakeshall
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Solcum Lane before work, or in the car park at Bulls Head on the way home.
Unfamiliar motors come second, as well. Hire cars, new cars and company motors place their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as readily, and once the pour begins, no part halts it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Blakeshall or out in Drakelow.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Blakeshall forecourt or a driveway out in Caunsall, spend a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many vehicles show which goes in each filler right there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Kidderminster.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Worcestershire that is.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, engine stopped, and not rushed beside Kingsford Lane on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Both under a single flap? So make sure the cap on your diesel side is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and look again — making sure your diesel cap stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Blakeshall already?
Brief list, then. First: your engine remains unstarted. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so leave it off. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push your car away from the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Esso, the Sainsbury's or somewhere else. On your own drive in Blakeshall? Then the vehicle stays where it is.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Blakeshall sits under 10 miles from the M5; there, use the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Wolverhampton, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Blakeshall.
Our arrival around Blakeshall, and what happens next
Wherever your car came to rest, whether outside Cookley Sebright Primary School, near Nanny's Rock or on your own drive, our van travels to it. What fluid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because the answers set the work and price. You get that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
Then your tank is cleared and your system cleaned thoroughly. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The motor is started next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before we go.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive, as long as your engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is included in many insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Blakeshall
Blakeshall is a small village in Worcestershire, situated inland at an elevation of 89 metres, approximately 12 miles from Wolverhampton. Blakeshall is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting its rural setting. Blakeshall lies near several other villages, including Drakelow, Cookley, and Kingsford, and is around 110 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains across Worcestershire, Blakeshall included
Blakeshall is a rural village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Cookley and Kingsford among them, across the DY postcode area. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting DY11 5.
Shifting your car is not necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Cookley Village Hall and Sports Club, a lay-by on the way to Kingsford Forest Park, a drive. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Peter, ring and ask rather than assuming.
The short version for Blakeshall drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave it switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Worcestershire.