Kings Heath: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when the engine has not run, it's emptied and fully purged where the vehicle sits around Kings Heath. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the why it occurs and the how to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel feeds the engine — but plenty of modern diesels seen about Kings Heath and St James End hold another fluid as well. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
There is a filler for every tank. On a lot of cars 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 pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in Kings Heath?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Mill Lane, or outside Spencer Working Mens Club on the way home that evening.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second thing: an unfamiliar car.
No part halts the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Kings Heath or out in Dallington.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Lodge Farm or a forecourt in Kings Heath.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show which belongs in each inlet just there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Northampton? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever across Northamptonshire, follow this routine.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Gladstone Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, perhaps, but it works.
- Both under one flap? Then make sure the cap on the diesel side is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Stop once that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Discover at the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Stage five is out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Kings Heath already?
Do not start the engine: that's how the short order of things starts. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump if you are on a forecourt — the BP, the Texaco or somewhere else. Your own drive in Kings Heath is where it stays.
When the motor has been run by now, pull over somewhere safe then switch the vehicle off. The next exit means where to leave if you are on the M1, under 5 miles from Kings Heath. A short hop across Kings Heath is a smaller job than a run towards Milton Keynes, under 25 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our technicians get there in Kings Heath, what takes place?
The van comes to the car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, near Church on the Heath, or outside Kings Heath Primary Academy. The replies determine the work and our price, and so we ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of your system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears away unaided. Hence it matters more. The filter cleaned or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. Your engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our technicians head off.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our engineers get there, provided your motor has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Kings Heath, for a moment
Kings Heath is a suburban area in Northamptonshire, situated on the banks of a river at an elevation of 86 metres. Kings Heath lies approximately 61 miles northwest of London and 16 miles southeast of Milton Keynes, with nearby places including Dallington, Kingsthorpe, and Queens Park. Kings Heath is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the typical residential architecture of the East Midlands region. Kings Heath has a population of around 5592 residents, making it a moderately sized suburban community.
Kings Heath and Northamptonshire: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, Kings Heath shares its vans surrounding places — Kingsthorpe, Queens Park — all the way across NN postcodes and the wider area beyond. Fastest of all: quote a NN5 7 postcode to the van.
Shifting the car is not necessary. Wherever it stands — near Laser Zone, on a layby en route to King's Heath Park, at home — that is where it is drained. Assuming doesn't help behind Kingsheath Community Centre, close to a border, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and check.
In short, for Kings Heath people
Always, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere in Northamptonshire.