Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Goscote
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, leave the ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, done just where the car sits in Goscote, is usually all it takes if caught before the motor runs. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the reasons it occurs and the ways to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels around Little Bloxwich, as well as Goscote, run on two liquids; the engine takes just your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas to clean it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Many of motors have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on each forecourt visit, week in, week out. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
Goscote: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Dolphin Close before work, or in the car park at Greenrock Tavern on the way home.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is the second factor: a strange car.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, carries on. It's seconds, be it in Heath End or bang in the centre of Goscote.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Goscote forecourt or a driveway out in Pelsall Wood, take a couple of seconds on these before anything goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Bloxwich? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
When the light comes on, wherever in West Midlands, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Canalside Close.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It seems daft. It works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where both share a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Finish when the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently through the built-in spout.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Leave out step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Goscote?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Keep the ignition off as well, since on many diesels switching it on alone starts the pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Asda, the Shelfield Service Station or anywhere else. Your own drive in Goscote is the place it stays.
When the motor has run already, stop somewhere safe and turn the car off. On the M6, under 3 miles from Goscote, that means the next junction. A short hop across Goscote is a smaller job than a run towards Wolverhampton, under 10 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Goscote: what happens when our engineers get there
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, whether by Rivers Primary Academy, near Goscote Centre or at home, the van travels to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — what fluid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so we ask. No one heads out until you have had our quote by phone.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of it clears away on its own, no matter how long it is left. After the fuel filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and finally your vehicle is tested. After that our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs correctly before we leave.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run need about half an hour once we arrive. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Goscote itself
Goscote is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Tame and close to the cities of Wolverhampton and Walsall. Goscote sits at an elevation of 149 metres, with nearby neighbourhoods including Heath End and Blakenall Heath. Goscote has a population of around 4576 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. Goscote is located approximately 109.8 miles northwest of London, near the M6 motorway.
Goscote and West Midlands: AdBlue drains across the area
Goscote is a residential suburb, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Blakenall Heath and Harden among them, across the WS postcode area. Fastest of all: give a WS3 1 postcode to our van.
Moving the vehicle is not needed. Anywhere it sits — beside Blakenall Village Centre, on a layby heading to Black Country Millennium Forest, at home — that's where it gets emptied. Guessing doesn't help behind Blakenall Community Centre, on a border, or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
For Goscote people, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, wherever in West Midlands: keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103.