Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hallow
Leave your engine and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain and a thorough flush, done right where the car sits in Hallow, is normally what it needs if found before the motor runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Not one fluid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels around Hallow and Shoulton carry, with diesel for the engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Hallow: how it takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off A443, or on the way home in the car park outside Crown Inn.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
Nothing halts the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's seconds, whether out in Hallow Heath or bang in the heart of Hallow.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these first, at a forecourt in Hallow or a driveway over in Bevere. A few seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On plenty of vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives when your filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Worcester Foregate Street.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere around Worcestershire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine off, and never rushed beside Orchard Close on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The two under one flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel filler is still shut ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and check a second time that the diesel cap was never came off.
Discover during the second or third step that AdBlue went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Step five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hallow already?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting your motor. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Esso, the Texaco or somewhere else. At home in Hallow? Then your car stays put.
Where your motor has run by now, pull over somewhere safe and turn it off. Leave the M5 — under 5 miles out of Hallow — at the next exit. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Hallow makes a smaller job than driving under 3 miles towards Worcester — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Hallow: what occurs when our engineers get there
By Hallow CofE Primary School, near Hallow Village Hall or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. What liquid was put in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because the answers decide the work and quote. That quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears away on its own, no matter how long it is left. Once the filter has been flushed — or replaced, if required — fresh diesel goes in, and then your vehicle gets tested. After that our engineers start the car and confirm it runs smoothly before we go.
If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Hallow, briefly
Hallow is a small village in Worcestershire, situated on the banks of the River Severn at an elevation of around 45 metres. Hallow lies close to the city of Worcester, with which it has strong historical and economic ties. Hallow has a mix of old and new housing, but detached homes are the predominant type, reflecting the village's relatively affluent character. Hallow is also near several other small settlements, including Hallow Heath and Little Eastbury.
AdBlue drains across Worcestershire, Hallow included
Hallow is a village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Little Eastbury and Moseley among them, across the WR postcode area. Quickest of all: give a WR2 6 postcode to the van.
The vehicle stays put. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Tinkers' Coppice, a side street near St Philip & St James: our technicians drain the car where it stands. Tricky to explain, like the back of Plymouth Brethren Christian Church? By a border? Checking is better than guessing, and so phone.
Hallow people: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Worcestershire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103.