Coalpit Field: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Pause reading a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where the car sits in Coalpit Field, is usually all it needs if found before the engine runs. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel goes to the engine — yet plenty of newer diesels seen about Coalpit Field and Collycroft carry another liquid too. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place the two side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think which filler it needs. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Coalpit Field?
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off East Avenue, or heading home in the car park at Prince of Wales.
The old car's filler is where your hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: a strange car.
Third, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and once the pour begins, no part stops it. It takes seconds, whether out in Bedworth or right in the centre of Coalpit Field.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Marston Jabbett or a forecourt around Coalpit Field, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — many cars mark what goes in each filler just there.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Bedworth? Check with whoever drove it last before leaving, not when the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
On the day the light appears — wherever you are in Warwickshire — a routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of York Avenue, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- Both under a single flap? So confirm the lid on your diesel side stays shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Do not go on to stage five.
Coalpit Field: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Do not start your engine: that is where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Tesco, Shell or any forecourt will normally help pushing the vehicle clear if asked. If you are on your own driveway in Coalpit Field, leave it where it sits.
Where the motor has run by now, stop safely and turn the car off. On the M6, under 3 miles from Coalpit Field, that means the next exit. A short hop across Coalpit Field is a smaller job than a run towards Coventry, under 10 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians turn up in Coalpit Field, what happens?
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, whether by All Saints Bedworth CofE Academy, near St Francis of Assisi or at home, our van comes to it. Our engineers ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it's run, since those answers settle the work and our price. The price is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Then the tank is drained and the system purged thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of that clears away on its own, however long it sits. After the fuel filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where required — fresh diesel is added, and then your car is tested. Before we leave, our engineers start the car and confirm that it is running correctly.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. No money upfront; you settle up that day. At the end, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Coalpit Field, for a moment
Coalpit Field is a suburban area located on the riverside in Warwickshire, with a mix of terraced housing and local amenities. Coalpit Field sits near the city of Coventry, approximately 5.3 miles away, and is close to nearby places such as Bedworth and Mount Pleasant. Coalpit Field has a population of around 3942 residents and is situated at an elevation of 100 metres, near the Black Bank area. Coalpit Field is part of the wider West Midlands region, about 87.8 miles from London.
AdBlue drains around Coalpit Field, and Warwickshire beyond
Being a residential suburb, Coalpit Field has the same vans as surrounding places — Mount Pleasant, Black Bank — right through CV postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Give a postcode that starts CV12 9, and the van gets there quickest.
No need to move the vehicle. Anywhere it stands — beside Weston Lawns Equitation Centre, in a layby en route to Weston Lawns Fisheries, on a drive — that's where it is emptied. Assuming won't help behind Bedworth Civic Hall, on a boundary, or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
For Coalpit Field people, the short version
Tip nothing until you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across Warwickshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103.