Hilltop: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Leave your engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Around Hilltop, finding it before your motor turns normally leaves a drain and a full flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many current diesels on the roads about Hilltop and Rood End carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from its own tank.
Separate tanks, different fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think what cap to use. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Hilltop: how it occurs
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
On a drive off Bristnall Hall Crescent before work, or in the car park at The Plough on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: a new car.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as readily, and once the pour starts, nothing stops it. Whether it happens in Bristnall Fields or the middle of Hilltop, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Causeway Green or a forecourt in Hilltop, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to your diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the handbook says where.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Langley Green, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across West Midlands that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Beeches Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located the filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure your diesel filler stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Never carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hilltop?
Brief list, then. First: your motor remains unstarted. Leave the ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on alone starts the pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump if you're at a forecourt — the Esso, the Murco or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Hilltop.
When the engine has been run by now, stop somewhere safe then turn the car off. Hilltop lies under 3 miles from the M5; there, use the first exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Hilltop is smaller a job than a trip of under 5 miles towards Birmingham, so tell us.
Our arrival in Hilltop, and what occurs next
Our van comes to your car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near King's Community Church, or by Moat Farm Junior School. Those answers settle this work and the price, and so our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run. On the phone call itself, you are told our quote — before dispatch.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. 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 that matters more here than with petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before we leave, our engineers fire it up and confirm that it is running properly.
If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Hilltop and where it is
Hilltop is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Tame and close to the city of Birmingham. Hilltop sits at an elevation of 193 metres, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Hilltop is located near several other suburban areas, including Bristnall Fields and Langley Green, and is around 4 miles from Birmingham city centre. Hilltop is also within commuting distance of London, approximately 104 miles away.
AdBlue drains across West Midlands, Hilltop included
Hilltop is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Langley Green and Londonderry among them, across the B postcode area. Give a postcode that starts B68 9, and the van arrives fastest.
Your car doesn't need to move. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near The Salvation Army - Oldbury, a lay-by on the way to Black Country Millennium Forest, a drive. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Hurst Road Community Centre.
In short, for Hilltop motorists
Pour no AdBlue until you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in West Midlands, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103.