What Now? AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Digbeth
All of it turns on a single fact: if your engine has been run after the AdBlue went in — more than anything else. Not run yet? Then leave it like that, wherever the vehicle sits — Digbeth or Highgate. Keep nothing on, phone 0333 366 0103, and expect a proper flush plus a drain, done right where your vehicle sits around Digbeth. Where your engine has been run, stop somewhere safe first, then turn the car off. Stage one stays unchanged, even if the work is bigger.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever across West Midlands it happened.
On a Digbeth forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
Just now, nozzle yet in hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the pump. Maybe you are at the Texaco, perhaps at the BP, possibly somewhere else in Digbeth.
What it means: this is the best location to find out. The AdBlue is in your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has drawn it in.
Clearing the petrol pump is no reason to start it — and so do not get back in. Ring us from the forecourt after the car is in a space — the staff will help roll it — and keep the bottle. The equipment is explosion-proof and safe on a busy forecourt, and so a vehicle that cannot be pushed clear gets emptied where it is at the petrol pump.
At home in Digbeth with AdBlue in your diesel tank
Days had passed with the dash light on. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. Houses just off Floodgate Street get caught out as often as everywhere else.
Put simply: if your car hasn't been driven since, it is almost equal to spotting it at the forecourt. Being reluctant to mix, AdBlue drops low inside your tank and waits. One night parked changes none of that.
Put your keys indoors overnight — otherwise a person might take it away at breakfast — and call us. Your drive is where it gets emptied, be it around Digbeth or Deritend. Late-night drains outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
AdBlue in a diesel and already driving in Digbeth?
Filled up, pulled away, and before long your motor was turning roughly, smoking, losing power, or flashing up your dash. It might have been driving to Birmingham, under a mile away, or simply down Digbeth.
Meaning? Your pump has sucked the AdBlue in. The injection pump and each injector get it as well on a longer trip, once your filter and lines have it. It goes further with every mile driven and every restart.
Next: find a sensible spot, stop, and turn the motor off. On the Aston Expressway, under 3 miles from Digbeth, that means the next exit, not the services further on. Do not restart it to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Tell us know the mileage driven as you ring.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
A week ago, it was unknown to you. On your own vehicle, AdBlue is missing or elsewhere. On this one, its cap is right by your diesel inlet — news to you. Across West Midlands, no one is immune.
The upshot: just as above, divided by if it ran, only with an added stage. The owner frequently has to sign off any work, under plenty of hire and company agreements.
What to do: ring the hire firm or your fleet manager first, then us. That is faster settled before our engineers get there than after. Hanging on for a reply in the car park at Birmingham Moor Street, or beside J. F. Kennedy Memorial Mosaic? Keep your car off meanwhile.
Digbeth: unsure whether it was AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Honestly, the only answer may be that you think so. A slight ammonia-like smell hangs near your filler, the bottle feels too light, and which cap came off is hard to recall. A rushed stop by the gates of St Anne's Catholic Primary School, or a visit to a friend in Birmingham: either fit.
Meaning? Spills outside the filler never reach the engine at all. Inside the diesel tank, however, AdBlue damages it. Starting the car will not tell you which, and if there is AdBlue in the tank it will draw it in.
Your move: act as if it got in, and never start your motor. Phone and give the details: we'd rather confirm a tank free of AdBlue than empty one after the engine has run.
What every AdBlue drain around Digbeth has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, the job starts the same way. Three things are asked once we arrive — at a filling station, a driveway, a street by Highway Commemorative Plaque or the car park at Big Bull's Head: the liquid, the amount, and whether it has run. On the phone, before dispatch, you are told the quote, and those replies shape the work too.
AdBlue crystallises and eats at certain metals in fuel systems, and so it won't wash out on its own; that's why a full flush, after the drain, counts much more here than with petrol. Clean diesel goes in after the fuel filter has been flushed or replaced, and your car is finally tested. Not started? Then about half an hour once we are there is most jobs.
The last step is firing it up. Before our technicians head off, it's tested to make sure it runs correctly on new diesel. Long-term damage is very uncommon if it is caught soon, and the whole job is done where the vehicle is. Paying comes that day, never upfront. For your insurer, you get a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Digbeth, briefly
Digbeth is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated on the River Rea in close proximity to Birmingham city centre. Digbeth sits at an elevation of around 105 metres, with its riverside location influencing the local environment. Digbeth is characterised by a high proportion of flat dwellings, reflecting its urban setting. Digbeth is adjacent to other nearby places such as Deritend and Bordesley, forming part of the larger Birmingham urban landscape.
AdBlue drains across West Midlands, Digbeth included
Over B postcodes, the teams covering Digbeth — a residential suburb — reach nearby towns as well, Bordesley and Spring Vale among them. Giving us your B12 0 postcode finds you quickest of all.
Parked heading to Digbeth Community Garden, or right in the centre of Digbeth, the car remains put — there's no need to shift it at all. The drain happens right there. Ring and ask instead of guessing when you're by Barfly, on a border, or anywhere tricky to explain.
Your situation, summed up
Still unrun? Leave it that way then phone. Run already: pull over, power down, ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Digbeth or anywhere across West Midlands.