How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pound Bank
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your engine has not turned, it is drained and thoroughly rinsed where your car sits in Pound Bank. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
No single fluid but two: that's how many modern diesels around Pound Bank and Great Malvern run, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the gas.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. 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 petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Pound Bank
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a drive off Pickersleigh Road before work, or in the car park at The Foresters Arms on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in.
Unfamiliar cars are second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and after the pour begins, no part stops it. Sherrards Green or the heart of Pound Bank: it takes the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Pound Bank or a driveway over in Malvern Common. Seconds, no more.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- On many cars, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of cars mark which belongs in each inlet right there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the 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 — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Great Malvern.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere across Worcestershire, use this routine.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Sherrard's Green Road.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you have located the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start your car, shut the cap and check again that the diesel cap never came off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Stage five is out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Pound Bank already?
Short list, then. Top of it: your motor remains off. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Gulf, the Countrywide Farmers or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Pound Bank.
Where your engine has run by now, stop safely then turn the car off. Pound Bank lies under 5 miles from the M5; on it, use the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Worcester, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Pound Bank.
Our arrival in Pound Bank, and what occurs next
Wherever the car came to rest, whether outside Great Malvern Primary School, near Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses or on your own drive, our van comes to it. The replies determine the work and the quote, so our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run. During the phone call itself, you hear the price — ahead of dispatch.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of it clears out unaided, however long it is left. After the filter has been flushed — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and finally your car is tested. Then we fire it up and check it runs properly before leaving.
If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Pound Bank itself
Pound Bank is a suburban area located near Worcester in Worcestershire, England, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Pound Bank sits at an elevation of 53 metres, close to the nearby communities of Sherrards Green, Barnards Green, and Poolbrook. Pound Bank is situated approximately 6.7 miles from Worcester and 102 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Pound Bank has a population of around 6227 residents, living in a predominantly semi-detached housing stock.
AdBlue drains in Pound Bank and across Worcestershire
Pound Bank is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the places around it, Barnards Green and Poolbrook among them, across the WR postcode area. Quickest of all: quote a WR14 2 postcode for our van.
The vehicle remains put. We drain it where it is — a side street near The Church Of The Blessed Virgin Mary, a lay-by on the way to Duke's Meadow, a drive. Guessing doesn't help behind Sir Charles Hastings, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; phone and check.
Pound Bank drivers: the short version
Tip no AdBlue until you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere around Worcestershire.