AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Newbolds: How It Occurs and How to Avoid It
Leave the motor and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Around Newbolds, catching it before the engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. Reading in advance? In that case the rest explains how it happens and how to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one fluid but two: that's what many newer diesels near Newbolds and Park Village carry, with diesel for your motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
There is a filler on every tank. On a lot of motors 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 is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Newbolds?
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
Haste follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Cannock Road, or on the way home in the car park at Golden Lion.
New-to-you motors come next, too. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles put their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing stops the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. New Cross or the heart of Newbolds: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt in Newbolds or a drive over in Low Hill. A few seconds, no more.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many vehicles mark which goes in which inlet just there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Wolverhampton? Check with whoever drove it last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Anywhere in West Midlands the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Raynor Road, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two sit under a flap, confirm it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Stop when your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly through the built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, and check again — confirm your diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
Newbolds: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the Texaco or the Esso, ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump. If you're on your own drive around Newbolds, leave the car where it sits.
When your motor has run already, pull over safely then turn the car off. Newbolds sits under 3 miles from the M54; there, take the next exit. Distance matters — a short hop across Newbolds is a smaller job than driving under 3 miles to Wolverhampton — so say about how far it went.
Newbolds: what occurs when our engineers turn up
The van comes to the car wherever it stopped — your own drive, near Wimborne Road Methodist Church, or outside St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy. Our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run, since those replies determine the work and the price. You get that quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, some metals are attacked, and none of it washes away on its own, however long it is left. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is flushed or replaced as needed. We don't go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
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. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Newbolds and where it is
Newbolds is a suburban area located near Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, sitting at an elevation of around 145 metres. Newbolds is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock and is situated close to nearby places such as New Cross, Old Fallings, and Fallings Park. Newbolds is home to a population of approximately 8615 residents and is about 1.6 miles from Wolverhampton city centre.
AdBlue drains across West Midlands, Newbolds included
Throughout WV postcodes, our teams covering Newbolds — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Fallings Park and Old Fallings among them. Give a postcode that starts WV10 0, and the van gets there fastest.
The car doesn't need to shift. Anywhere it stands — beside Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Catholic Church, on a layby heading to Saint Christopher's Park, at home — that is where it gets drained. Guessing doesn't help behind The Good Shepherd, on a boundary, or somewhere hard to pin down; phone and ask.
For Newbolds motorists, the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere across West Midlands.