Catshill: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, leave your ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Catshill, finding it before the engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels in Walsall Wood, like those in Catshill, run on two liquids; your motor gets only your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have the two side by side under one flap. Topping up your diesel side at the pump happens constantly. Much less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. It's in that gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around Catshill
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up at once.
On a drive off Fullelove Road before work, or in the car park at The Jack 'Jigger' Taylor on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Whether it occurs in Shire Oak or the middle of Catshill, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Catshill or a drive out in New Town. A few seconds, that's all.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? Then check below the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook will say which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Shenstone, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Anywhere in West Midlands the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Catshill Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- The two behind a single flap? So confirm the lid on the diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before starting the car, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
Discover during the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Step five stays out.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Catshill?
Don't start the engine: that's how the short order of things starts. Leave the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it alone starts the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the the nearest petrol station, the Shell or anywhere else. Your own driveway around Catshill is where it should stay.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Catshill sits under 3 miles from the M6 Toll; on it, use the first exit. Distance matters — a quick hop across Catshill is a smaller job than driving under 5 miles towards Lichfield — so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians get there in Catshill, what happens?
Outside Millfield Primary School, near St. Bernadette's Catholic Church or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. What liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the replies decide the work and quote. Nobody sets off until you've had the quote by phone.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals form, some metals are attacked, and none of it clears out unaided, however long it sits. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We do not leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour after we get there, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps we use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, take a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Catshill and where it is
Catshill is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Tame and close to the city of Lichfield. Catshill sits at an elevation of 151 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Catshill is located near other local places such as Shire Oak, Brownhills, and Clayhanger, and is approximately 109 miles northwest of London. Catshill has a population of around 4399 residents.
AdBlue drains around Catshill, and West Midlands beyond
Being a residential suburb, Catshill has the same vans as nearby areas — Brownhills, Clayhanger — all the way through WS postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting WS8 6 gets the van to you fastest.
Your car does not need to shift. The drain takes place on the spot, be it a drive, a street by Brownhills Methodist Church, or a layby towards Black Country Millennium Forest. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Calgary Pentecostal Church, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Catshill people
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere across West Midlands.