Newdale: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the engine hasn't run, it's emptied and thoroughly purged where the car is in Newdale. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you are reading ahead of time.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
No single liquid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels near Newdale and Red Lake carry, with diesel for your motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, and there spraying cleans the gas.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on many vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. It is in the gap that the slip happens.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Newdale?
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
Haste comes from the warning. Your 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 Waterloo Road, or heading home in the car park at The Wrens Nest.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour after it has started. It takes a few seconds, whether in Overdale or bang in the heart of Newdale.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Lawley Bank or a forecourt in Newdale.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives when your filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- 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 Oakengates.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — anywhere you are around Shropshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Rock Road.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've found your filler and read it.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, confirm it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, close the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap was never opened off.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Never go on to stage five.
Newdale: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Do not start your engine: that is how the short order of things starts. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Esso, Tesco or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the vehicle clear if asked. On your own drive in Newdale? Then your car remains where it is.
When the engine has run by now, pull over safely and switch it off. On the M54, under a mile from Newdale, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Newdale is less work than a run of under 25 miles to Wolverhampton, so say.
Newdale: what takes place when we arrive
Outside Newdale Primary School & Nursery, close to St Mary the Virgin or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run, because the replies determine the work and the price. During the phone call itself, you hear the quote — ahead of anything else.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system purged thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. After the fuel filter has been cleaned — or renewed, where needed — clean diesel is added, and then your vehicle gets tested. After that we start it and check it runs smoothly before we leave.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Newdale and where it is
Newdale is a suburban area in Shropshire, situated inland at an elevation of around 135 metres. Newdale lies approximately 16 miles west of Wolverhampton and about 129 miles northwest of London. Newdale is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock and is located near other residential areas such as Overdale and Old Park. Newdale has a population of around 4281 residents.
AdBlue drains around Newdale, and Shropshire beyond
Newdale is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the places near it, Old Park and The Rock among them, across the TF postcode area. A postcode starting TF3 5 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to shift the car. Wherever it sits — beside Ketley Methodist Church, in a layby en route to Newdale park, at home — that's where it is emptied. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Asda Living.
In short, for Newdale motorists
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere in Shropshire.