Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hagley
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave your ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Hagley. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it occurs and the ways to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Plenty of newer diesels in Lower Clent, like those in Hagley, carry on two liquids; your motor gets only the diesel. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the gas to fresh them, from its own tank.
Each tank comes with a filler of its own. Plenty of motors share a single flap for both, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. The mistake lives in that gap.
Hagley: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
On a driveway off Station Road before work, or in the car park at The King Arthur on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and once the tip starts, nothing stops it. West Hagley or the middle of Hagley: it takes the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Hagley or a driveway out in Pedmore. Seconds, no more.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Check for it.
- Can't find it beside your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at the nearest station? Check with the person who drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Worcestershire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Park Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Stop once that tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently through the own spout.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm your diesel filler stayed shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Hagley?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — Shell, BP or another — the attendants will normally help roll your car clear, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway in Hagley.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. The next junction is where to come off if you are on the M5, under 5 miles from Hagley. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Birmingham, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Hagley.
When our technicians get there around Hagley, what occurs?
Our technicians come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Hagley Primary School, near St Saviour or on your own drive. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — what liquid, which quantity, and whether it's run — so we ask. Nobody heads out before you've heard our quote over the phone.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, after that tank is cleared. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes out unaided, no matter how long it sits. Once the filter has been flushed — or renewed, where required — clean diesel is added, and finally your car is tested. Your engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before we go.
If the engine has not run, the majority of 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 at night. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Hagley, briefly
Hagley is a village in Worcestershire, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of around 101 metres. Hagley lies approximately 10 miles southwest of Birmingham and 106 miles northwest of London, with nearby villages including West Hagley, Stakenbridge, and Broome. Hagley has a population of around 2446 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Hagley is characterized by its rural riverside setting, with the village surrounded by countryside.
AdBlue drains across Worcestershire, Hagley included
As a village, Hagley shares its vans nearby areas — Stakenbridge, Broome — all the way through DY postcodes and the surrounding area around them. A postcode starting DY9 0 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle remains where it is. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Pedmore Cricket Club, a side street near Hagley Pavilion: we drain it where it is. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Hagley Free Church, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Hagley drivers: the short version
First, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere around Worcestershire.