AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hill End: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Stop here a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Around Hill End, catching it before your motor runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it happens and the how to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of newer diesels in Newtown, as well as Hill End, run on two liquids; your engine takes only the diesel. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to clean it, from its own tank.
There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of vehicles 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 petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and usually by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the slip happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Hill End
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a drive off Crutch Lane before work, or in the car park outside Mason's Arms on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar motors come second, as well. Rentals, new cars and company motors place their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the pour after it has started. It's a few seconds, whether out in The Vines or right in the centre of Hill End.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Hill End forecourt or a driveway over in Westacre, take a few seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many cars mark what belongs in which inlet right there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Check when you pick up a rental or fleet car — at Droitwich Spa's car park, say — not once the warning comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Worcestershire that is.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of St Augustine Drive.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and look again that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Discover during the second or third step that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Step five is off limits.
Hill End: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Brief order, then. Top of it: your motor stays off. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of mixing — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Valero, another forecourt nearby or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car away when you ask. On your own drive around Hill End? So the car remains where it is.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M5, under a mile from Hill End, that means the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Worcester, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Hill End.
What occurs when our engineers arrive around Hill End
The van comes to your car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, near St Augustine's, or outside St Peter's Droitwich CofE Academy. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — what fluid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. Nobody sets off before you have had the price by phone.
Then the tank is emptied and your system flushed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test is last: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the filter is cleaned or replaced if necessary. The motor is started next and checked to be sure it runs properly, all before our technicians leave.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our technicians get there, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Hill End
Hill End is a suburban area in Worcestershire, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 46 metres, with The Vines and Netherwich nearby. Hill End is located close to the city of Worcester, approximately 6.4 miles away, and is also near Droitwich Spa. Hill End has a population of around 2535 people and predominantly consists of flat housing. Hill End is about 100.9 miles from London, making it a relatively accessible location.
Hill End and Worcestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Droitwich Spa and Netherwich are among the towns around Hill End, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over WR postcodes. Fastest of all: quote a WR9 8 postcode for the van.
Your car doesn't need to move. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Vines Park, a side street close to St Andrew: our engineers drain it where it is. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Tile Mosaic, ring and ask rather than assuming.
In short, for Hill End drivers
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around Worcestershire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.