Dothill: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Leave the motor and ignition off and call 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In Dothill, finding it before the engine turns usually leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Many newer diesels on the roads round Dothill and Eyton upon the Weald Moors carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Dothill: how it occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Shawbirch Road before work, or in the car park at The Woolpack on the way home.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as easily, and once the pour starts, nothing stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Dothill or out in Shawbirch.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Leegomery or a forecourt in Dothill.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- On many cars, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- Cannot find it beside your diesel filler? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Wellington (Shropshire)? Check with whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Shropshire that is.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Dothill Roundabout.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Both under a single flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel side stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Finish when your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly using its built-in spout.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Dothill?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch it on. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push your car clear of the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Shell, the Springhill or anywhere else. On your own drive around Dothill? So the vehicle remains where it is.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit means where to come off when you are on the M54, under 3 miles from Dothill. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Wolverhampton, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Dothill.
Our arrival in Dothill, and what happens next
By Dothill Primary School, near Admaston House or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — which fluid, what amount, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
Then your tank is cleared and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of it washes away on its own, no matter how long it sits. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we leave, our engineers fire it up and confirm that it is running smoothly.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour job from arrival. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Dothill itself
Dothill is a suburban area in Shropshire, situated lakeside at an elevation of around 75 metres. Dothill lies near several smaller communities, including Shawbirch, Admaston, and Bratton, and is approximately 19 miles from Wolverhampton. Dothill has a population of around 3663 people, predominantly living in detached housing. Dothill is also relatively distant from London, at around 131.8 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Shropshire, Dothill included
Admaston and Bratton are among the towns near Dothill, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over TF postcodes. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting TF5 0.
No need to move your car. We drain it where it is — a side street near Apley Castle, a lay-by on the way to Shawbirch Little Park, a drive. Guessing won't help at the back of St Catherine, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
For Dothill drivers, the short version
Pour no AdBlue until you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere across Shropshire.