Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Finchfield
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Finchfield. Reading before the event? In that case what follows explains how it happens and what to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single fluid but two: that is how plenty of modern diesels near Finchfield and Oxbarn carry, with diesel feeding your engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the gas.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors have a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what cap to use. It is in the gap that the slip happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Finchfield
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things coming up at once.
On a driveway off White Oak Drive before work, or in the car park outside The Chestnut Tree on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
New-to-you cars come next, as well. Rentals, new cars and company motors put their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
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 once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Finchfield or out in Merry Hill.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Finchfield forecourt or a driveway out in Tettenhall Wood, spend a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Wolverhampton.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever you are across West Midlands — a routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Castlecroft Gardens.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two share a flap, make sure it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap, and check again — confirm your diesel cap remained closed throughout. After that, start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Don't go on to step five.
Finchfield: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — so keep it off. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Shell, the Esso or somewhere else. If you are on your own driveway in Finchfield, leave it where it is.
When your engine has run already, stop somewhere safe then turn it off. The next junction means the place to leave if you are on the M54, under 5 miles from Finchfield. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Wolverhampton, under 3 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Finchfield.
When our technicians get there in Finchfield, what occurs?
The van comes to the vehicle wherever it stopped — your own drive, near St Columba's, or outside Westacre Infant School. We ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run, since the answers settle this work and the price. No one heads out until you have had our quote over the phone.
Draining the tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of that washes out by itself. That is why it matters more. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before leaving, our engineers fire it up and confirm that it is running properly.
If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Finchfield
Finchfield is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, near the River Tame, with an elevation of around 123 metres. Finchfield sits approximately 2 miles west of Wolverhampton city centre and is close to nearby places such as Merry Hill, Compton, and Castlecroft. Finchfield has a population of around 6068 people and is characterised by predominantly semi-detached housing. Finchfield is situated in the West Midlands region, about 114 miles northwest of London.
Finchfield and West Midlands: AdBlue drains across the area
Compton and Castlecroft are among the places around Finchfield, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over WV postcodes. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting WV3 9.
The car remains where it is. The drain happens on the spot, be it a driveway, a street by Blue Plaque: Major K Hutchinson Smith, or a lay-by on the way to Protected community nature area. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of On a windy day: dandelion, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Finchfield drivers
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across West Midlands, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — and so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.