Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cotteridge: Why It Happens
Leave the motor and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Usually, if the motor hasn't turned, it's drained and thoroughly rinsed where your vehicle is around Cotteridge. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
No single fluid but two: that's how many newer diesels around Cotteridge and Kings Norton run, with diesel for your engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place both together behind one flap. Diesel gets filled on every filling station call-out, week in, week out. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what filler to use. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Cotteridge: how it takes place
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and running out leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Franklin Road, perhaps at The Camp on the way home after work.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second thing: a strange car.
Third, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as readily, and after the tip starts, nothing halts it. Bournville or the middle of Cotteridge: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt in Cotteridge or a drive over in Stirchley. Seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many vehicles mark which belongs in each inlet just there.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask as you collect a rental or company car — at Kings Norton's car park, say — not when the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Anywhere around West Midlands the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Oak Farm Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, yet it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, make sure it is closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop once that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour slowly through the own spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never go on to step five.
Cotteridge: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Do not start the engine: that's how the short order of things begins. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
The staff at Esso, BP or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the vehicle clear when you ask. Your own driveway around Cotteridge is where it should stay.
When the engine has been run by now, pull over safely and turn it off. The next exit is where to come off if you are on the Frankley Services Southbound, under 5 miles from Cotteridge. A short hop across Cotteridge is a smaller job than a run towards Birmingham, under 5 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our technicians turn up around Cotteridge, what occurs?
By St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, close to Saint Joseph & Saint Helen or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — which liquid, which quantity, and if it's run — so we ask. No one sets off before you've heard our quote by phone.
The fuel system is then flushed thoroughly, once the tank is emptied. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out by itself. That is why it counts more. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we go, our technicians start the engine and confirm that it's running correctly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we get there, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Cotteridge itself
Cotteridge is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated approximately 4.4 miles southwest of Birmingham city centre. Cotteridge sits at an elevation of around 163 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Cotteridge is close to nearby places such as Bournville and Lifford, and is located near Griffins Hill. Cotteridge has a population of around 6566 people, according to approximate estimates.
AdBlue drains around Cotteridge and across West Midlands
Lifford and Griffins Hill are among the towns near Cotteridge, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout B postcodes. A postcode starting B30 1 gets our van to you fastest.
The car stays put. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near Rowheath Pavilion, a lay-by on the way to Cotteridge Park, a drive. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Quaker Friends Meeting House.
Cotteridge drivers: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around West Midlands, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — and so leave it off and call 0333 366 0103.