Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hadley: Why It Occurs
Stop here a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. In Hadley, finding it before your engine turns normally leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. Here before the event? Then what follows covers how it comes about and how to prevent it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels around Wombridge, like those in Hadley, carry on two liquids; your engine gets just your diesel. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Many of motors share a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Hadley
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a drive off Church Street before work, or in the car park at The Foresters Arms on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Nothing stops the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It takes a few seconds, whether in Hadley Castle or bang in the centre of Hadley.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Hadley forecourt or a driveway out in Red Lake, take a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- Many cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many vehicles show what goes in which filler just there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check when you pick up a rental or company car — from Oakengates's car park, perhaps — not when the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — wherever you are around Shropshire — a routine to use.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor stopped, and not in a rush beside Stadium Way at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- Both under one flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel side stays closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap, then look again — confirm your diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Never go on to stage five.
Hadley: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Do not start your motor: that's where the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the vehicle on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the another forecourt nearby, ask the staff to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump. Your own drive around Hadley is where it stays.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next junction is the place to come off when you are on the M54, under 3 miles from Hadley. About how far did it go? Hopping across Hadley is smaller a job than a trip of under 25 miles to Wolverhampton, so say.
When our engineers arrive around Hadley, what occurs?
Anywhere the vehicle came to rest, whether by Hadley Learning Community - Primary Phase, near Holy Trinity or at home, our van travels to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — which fluid, which amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. During the call itself, you hear the quote — before anything else.
Then the tank is cleared and the system purged thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Next our engineers start the engine and check it runs correctly before leaving.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after we get there, as long as the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It's worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Hadley
Hadley is a suburban area in Shropshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 91 metres, with Hadley Castle and Trench Lock nearby. Hadley has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant, and Hadley is located near the town of Ketley. Hadley is positioned approximately 16.8 miles from Wolverhampton and 129.6 miles from London, making it a commuter base for the wider West Midlands region.
AdBlue drains around Hadley and across Shropshire
Trench Lock and Ketley are among the places around Hadley, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over TF postcodes. Fastest of all: give a TF1 5 postcode to the van.
The vehicle does not need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Blockleys Chimney, a side street near Hadley Community Centre: our technicians drain the vehicle where it sits. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Hadley Methodist Church? By a border? Asking beats guessing, and so ring.
Hadley drivers: the short version
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across Shropshire.