AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Catherine Cross: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Keep the motor and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Usually, if the engine has not run, it is emptied and fully cleaned where your vehicle sits around Catherine Cross. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads around Catherine Cross and Rough Hay carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has one filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think which filler to use. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Catherine Cross
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Wolverhampton Street, or outside The Cottage Spring on the way home after work.
New-to-you motors are next, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing halts the tip after it has started, because 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 out in The Leys or bang in the heart of Catherine Cross.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all these take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Fallings Heath or a forecourt around Catherine Cross.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it is if your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask as you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from Darlaston's car park, say — not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever around West Midlands, follow this routine.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Mill Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Leave out stage five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Catherine Cross?
Do not start your engine: that's where the short order of things begins. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
The staff at the nearest petrol station, Texaco or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing your car clear when you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Catherine Cross.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. On the M6, under 3 miles from Catherine Cross, that means the next exit. A short hop across Catherine Cross is a smaller job than a run towards Wolverhampton, under 5 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Catherine Cross, and what occurs next
The van reaches your car anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Owen Memorial Garden, or outside Pinfold Street Primary School. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run, since those replies settle the work and the quote. During the phone call itself, you hear the quote — before dispatch.
The system is then purged thoroughly, after that tank is emptied. 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 the flush counts more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is safe on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Catherine Cross
Catherine Cross is a suburban area located on the riverside in the West Midlands, with an elevation of around 136 metres. Catherine Cross sits near the city of Wolverhampton, approximately 3.9 miles away, and is close to nearby places such as The Leys, Woods Bank, and Darlaston. Catherine Cross has a population of around 8831 people and predominantly features semi-detached housing. Catherine Cross is situated about 109.4 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains in Catherine Cross and across West Midlands
Catherine Cross is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places around it, Woods Bank and Darlaston among them, across the WS postcode area. A postcode starting WS10 8 gets our van to you fastest.
There's no need to move the car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to The Salvation Army - Darlaston, a lay-by on the way to Black Country Millennium Forest, a driveway. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Darlaston Library, ring and ask rather than guessing.
For Catherine Cross drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around West Midlands, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.