AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Haslucks Green, and What to Do Next
One thing matters most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is whether the motor has been started since. Over in Shirley Street or right around Haslucks Green, an unrun engine must remain unrun. Leave your motor and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103; it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Haslucks Green. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. It is a bigger job, yet step one does not change.
Find the scenario below that matches yours, wherever around West Midlands it happened.
Haslucks Green forecourt: AdBlue in a diesel at the pump
Only at this point, bottle still in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the petrol pump. Be it BP, Asda or somewhere else in Haslucks Green, the situation is identical.
In short: there is no better spot exists to spot it. Only your tank has AdBlue; no part past it has taken any in.
Clearing the petrol pump is no excuse to start it — so don't get back in. Ask the staff to help you roll your car into a parking spot, keep the till receipt or the bottle, and ring us from the forecourt. Draining it there at the petrol pump is fine when it can't be shifted, because the equipment is explosion-proof.
At home in Haslucks Green with AdBlue in your diesel tank
Days had gone by with the warning light on. Only at the recycling bin, the empty container in hand, did you glance back at the cap you'd used on the drive. Driveways near Millers Court get it as much as any other street.
Meaning? As long as your car has not moved since, it is close to the forecourt case. Diesel and AdBlue keep apart: the AdBlue settles to the base of your tank and remains put, no matter how long it waits.
Next: stop any early-morning move by putting your keys in the house, then phone us. Your drive is where it gets drained, be it in Haslucks Green or Solihull Lodge. Late-night drains beside a house are no problem: the pumps are low-noise.
On the road in Haslucks Green with AdBlue in a diesel
A short way after topping up, your engine began playing up: roughness, smoke, less power, lights on your dash. Maybe it was on Haslucks Green Road, possibly on the way out towards Birmingham, under 10 miles away.
In short: the AdBlue has been sucked through your fuel system. Past the fuel filter, along the lines, and — the more the mileage — deeper into the high-pressure pump and every injector. Every restart, like each mile, pushes it deeper.
Next: find a sensible place, stop, then turn the engine off. Haslucks Green sits under 3 miles from the M42; there, pull off at the next junction rather than pressing on for the services. Do not restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Phone, and say what distance your car went.
Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank
It's a motor you have had for a week. Your own car either has no AdBlue or puts it elsewhere, and so nothing told you the AdBlue cap was just beside the diesel. Any driver, wherever around West Midlands, could do the same.
The point: exactly as above, divided by if it ran, but with an added step. The owner frequently needs to sign off any work, under many hire and fleet agreements.
Sorting it before the van turn up is quicker, so phone the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Waiting for a reply at the car park at Shirley, or beside Shirley Community Church? Keep the engine off meanwhile.
Unsure about AdBlue in your diesel tank in Haslucks Green?
"I think so" is sometimes the most honest as it gets. What cap came off, you can't say; meanwhile the bottle weighs less than it ought to, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by the filler. A hurried stop by the gates of Burman Infant School, or a visit to a friend in Truemans Heath: both fits.
What it means: a little spilled round the filler does no damage to your engine. A diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another matter. If there is AdBlue in that tank, turning on your car will suck it in, and it would not tell you which either.
Take it that it was put in, and don't turn your engine. Tell us what you saw on the phone. A clear tank checked counts as a better outcome than a run one drained.
Haslucks Green: what each AdBlue drain has in common
No matter the situation, a single opening is used. Wherever your car is — Colebrook Inn's car park, a street by Camp Hill Rugby Football Club, a driveway, a forecourt — our van gets there and we ask about the fluid, the amount, plus whether the engine has turned over. On the phone, before dispatch, you hear the quote, and those answers shape the work too.
Then that tank is cleared and the system purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't rinse out on its own. Then comes the fuel filter — cleaned, or replaced where necessary — followed by clean diesel, and a test of your car. If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there.
The final step is starting the engine. Our check that it runs smoothly on clean diesel comes before our engineers head off. The whole job is done where the car is, and when it's spotted early, long-term damage is very rare. Paying is on the day, never upfront. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer. Worth remembering: many insurers offer misfuelling cover, and so a quick look at your documents while we travel pays.
About Haslucks Green, briefly
Haslucks Green is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Cole and close to the city of Birmingham. Haslucks Green has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are the most common, and the area is home to around 7591 residents. Haslucks Green is located near several other suburban areas, including Solihull Lodge, Majors Green, and Shirley Heath, and is about 5.7 miles from Birmingham city centre. Haslucks Green sits at an elevation of 143 metres above sea level, and is around 95.8 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains around Haslucks Green, and across West Midlands too
Majors Green and Shirley Heath have the same vans as Haslucks Green, a residential suburb, plus other places throughout B postcodes. A postcode starting B90 2 is the quickest way to tell us where you are.
No towing is required, whether stopped in the centre of Haslucks Green or on a layby en route to Wake Green AFC, and so leave it where it is. The van empties it in place. Tricky to explain? By Yardley Wood Full Gospel Church or a county line? Checking beats assuming, so ring.
Your situation, summed up
Where it has not started, ring then keep it off. Run by now: stop, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, within Haslucks Green or anywhere in West Midlands.