AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in New Town Row: How It Happens and How to Stop It
Pause here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your engine has not turned, it's emptied and fully flushed where your vehicle is around New Town Row. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Diesel feeds the motor — yet plenty of current diesels seen about New Town Row and Hockley hold another fluid as well. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying treats the gas.
There is a filler for every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the layout on a lot of motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in on each filling station call-out, week in, week out. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think what filler to use. It is in the gap that the error happens.
New Town Row: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off New Town Row before work, or in the car park outside The Barrel on the way home.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — because a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
Third, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and once the tip begins, nothing halts it. Aston New Town or the middle of New Town Row: it takes the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Aston or a forecourt in New Town Row, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- Plenty of motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Birmingham Snow Hill.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Wherever around West Midlands the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Hatchett Street.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- Both behind one flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel filler is still shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Stop when your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly through the built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Leave out stage five entirely.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around New Town Row?
The short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Texaco, the Esso or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around New Town Row.
When the motor has run already, stop safely and switch it off. The next exit means where to leave if you are on the Aston Expressway, under a mile from New Town Row. Mileage matters — a short hop across New Town Row makes a smaller job than heading under a mile towards Birmingham — so say roughly how far it went.
What happens when our technicians get there in New Town Row
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St Chad's Catholic Primary School, close to Heaven Gate Centre or on your own driveway. Those replies determine this work and our quote, so our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run. Nobody sets off before you've had our price over the phone.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and none of it clears away unaided, no matter how long it is left. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Before we leave, our technicians fire it up and check that it's running smoothly.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor hasn't run take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About New Town Row and where it is
New Town Row is a suburban area located on the riverside in the West Midlands, with a mix of residential and commercial properties. New Town Row sits near the city centre of Birmingham, at an elevation of around 116 metres, and is close to nearby places such as Aston New Town and Nechells Green. New Town Row is predominantly composed of flat housing, reflecting its urban character. New Town Row is situated approximately 101 miles northwest of London, making it a significant part of the larger West Midlands conurbation.
AdBlue drains in New Town Row and across West Midlands
Newtown and Nechells Green are among the towns near New Town Row, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout B postcodes. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting B6 4.
There's no need to move the car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Redpoint Climbing Centre, a lay-by on the way to Saint Georges Park, a drive. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Bethel Temple of Christ Newtown Pentecostal Church? Close to a county line? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
For New Town Row people, the short version
Always, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across West Midlands.