Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hateley Heath: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, leave the ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. In Hateley Heath, finding it before your engine turns usually means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The rest of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of current diesels on the roads round Hateley Heath and Hall End carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Many of motors have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt visit, again and again. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. Mistakes happen in that gap between them.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hateley Heath: how it happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off Clarke's Lane before work, or in the car park outside Coach & Horses on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and once it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
New-to-you vehicles are next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company motors place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as readily, and once the tip starts, no part halts it. It takes a few seconds, whether in Hill Top or bang in the centre of Hateley Heath.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Hateley Heath or a drive over in Balls Hill. A few seconds, no more.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it lives if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Tame Bridge Parkway? Ask whoever drove it last before leaving, not once the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in West Midlands that is.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, engine off, and never rushed by Allerton Lane at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, yet it works.
- The two under a single flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel side stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Don't go on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Hateley Heath already?
Brief order, then. Top of that: the motor remains off. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, BP or another — the attendants will normally help roll the vehicle clear, if you ask. On your own drive around Hateley Heath? So the vehicle stays put.
Where your motor has been run already, pull over somewhere safe and turn the car off. Leave the M5 — under 3 miles out of Hateley Heath — at the first junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Birmingham, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Hateley Heath.
What occurs when we turn up in Hateley Heath
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, be it by St John Bosco Catholic Primary School, beside Capt. Robert Edwin Phillips, VC or on your own drive, our van travels to it. What liquid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because those answers set the work and quote. No one heads out before you have had the price by phone.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the fuel system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. A test is last: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once we get there, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Hateley Heath itself
Hateley Heath is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the lakeside and approximately 127 metres above sea level. Hateley Heath lies close to several nearby places, including Hill Top, Hall Green, and Black Lake, and is around 5.8 miles from Birmingham. Hateley Heath has a population of around 8546 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing.
Hateley Heath and West Midlands: AdBlue drains across the area
Hall Green and Black Lake are among the places near Hateley Heath, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over B postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting B71 2.
No need to shift your car. Wherever it stands — near BC Tigers, on a lay-by heading to Black Country Millennium Forest, on a drive — that is where it is cleared. Awkward to explain, like the back of Hill Top Community Centre? Close to a border? Checking is better than assuming, so phone.
For Hateley Heath motorists, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across West Midlands, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103.