AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Haughton: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Haughton. Here in advance? Then the rest covers why it happens and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels around Haughton and Redhill run, with diesel feeding the engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Different tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every forecourt visit, again and again. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The mistake grows in the gap between them.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Haughton
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Haughton Lane before work, or in the car park at Reds Bar on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: a new motor.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, carries on. Shifnal or the heart of Haughton: it is the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Nedge Hill or a forecourt in Haughton, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles show what belongs in which filler just there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Shifnal, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — wherever you are across Shropshire — a routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Brookside Close, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, make sure it's shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — making sure your diesel cap remained closed the whole time. After that, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Haughton?
Don't start the motor: that's where the short order of things starts. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of your tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Shell, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will normally help pushing the car clear when asked. If you are on your own driveway in Haughton, leave the car where it stands.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. Come off the M54 — under a mile out of Haughton — at the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Wolverhampton, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Haughton.
What takes place when we turn up around Haughton
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Shifnal Primary School, close to Shifnal Library or on your own driveway. Those answers settle this work and our quote, so we ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it has run. No one heads out before you have heard the quote over the phone.
After that: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away by itself. That is why it counts more. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We don't go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Haughton, for a moment
Haughton is a suburban area in Shropshire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 97 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type. Haughton lies approximately 12 miles from Wolverhampton and 125 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Haughton is close to nearby places such as Shifnal, The Wyke, and Crackleybank, and has a population of around 3345 residents. Haughton's riverside setting provides a pleasant environment for its inhabitants.
AdBlue drains in Haughton and across Shropshire
The Wyke and Crackleybank are among the places around Haughton, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout TF postcodes. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting TF11 8.
There's no need to move the vehicle. The drain takes place on the spot, be it a drive, a street near Saint Andrew, or a lay-by on the way to Wheatfield Drive Recreation Area. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Old Windmill, ring and ask instead of guessing.
In short, for Haughton motorists
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Shropshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.