AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Harts Hill: How It Happens and How to Stop It
Stop reading for a moment when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Around Harts Hill, finding it before your motor turns usually means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many current diesels on the roads round Harts Hill and Pensnett carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Harts Hill: how it happens
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things coming up at once.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from your car, and running out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Terrace Street, or at The Reindeer on the way home after work.
Then the vehicle is strange. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
No part halts the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's a few seconds, whether in Woodside or right in the centre of Harts Hill.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Be it a Harts Hill forecourt or a driveway out in Bromley, spend a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it is when your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Cradley Heath? Check with the person who drove it last before leaving, rather than when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere you are across West Midlands — a routine to follow.
- Stop somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Ulswater Rise.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two sit under a flap, make sure it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Stage five is out.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Harts Hill?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the motor. The fuel pump runs on many diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the JET or the BP, ask the staff to help push the car clear of the petrol pump. Your own drive in Harts Hill is the place it stays.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. The next exit is the place to leave when you're on the M5, under 5 miles from Harts Hill. A short hop across Harts Hill is a smaller job than a run towards Wolverhampton, under 10 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Harts Hill, and what occurs next
Outside Woodside Primary School and Nursery, near Acorn Performing Arts or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our engineers ask because the answers decide both work and quote. Nobody sets off before you've had our price by phone.
Then that tank is drained and the system rinsed thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, certain metals corrode, and none of that washes out on its own, however long it sits. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the filter is flushed or changed if necessary. We do not go until it has been started and is running correctly.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your engine hasn't run take about half an hour after our technicians arrive. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Harts Hill, briefly
Harts Hill is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, near the lakeside and surrounded by other residential neighbourhoods such as Woodside and Brockmoor. Harts Hill sits at an elevation of 151 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Harts Hill is situated approximately 6.5 miles from Wolverhampton city centre and 108.6 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across West Midlands, Harts Hill included
Harts Hill is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the places around it, Brockmoor and Holly Hall among them, across the DY postcode area. A postcode starting DY5 1 gets the van to you fastest.
Your car stays where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Black Country Millennium Forest, a side street near Paul Campbell's Karate Academy: our engineers drain the car where it sits. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Fens Pool Community Center? By a border? Checking beats guessing, so ring.
Harts Hill drivers: the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave the car switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout West Midlands.