Shelfield: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
One fact counts most when AdBlue is in a diesel tank, and it is whether your engine has run since. If it has not, keep it that way, whether your car is in Shelfield itself or out in Pelsall. Normally this means emptying and properly flushing it right there around Shelfield — so keep the ignition and motor off and ring 0333 366 0103. When the engine has run, stop safely straight away, then switch the vehicle off. It's a larger job, though step one doesn't change.
Wherever around West Midlands it took place, one of the cases below matches yours.
On a Shelfield forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel
The cap you opened was the wrong one — and you just notice it as you are standing at the pump, bottle or the nozzle in hand. Whether Esso, Heath Service Station or somewhere else around Shelfield, the situation is identical.
Meaning? Spotting it on the forecourt is as good as it can be. The AdBlue is inside your tank and nowhere else. Nothing has sucked it in.
Do this: keep out of the driver's seat, however much the queue wants clearing. Ask the attendants to help you roll the car into a parking space, keep the receipt or the bottle, then phone us from the forecourt. If it cannot be moved, it can be emptied at the pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in your diesel tank at home in Shelfield
For days the dashboard had been warning you. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look a second time at the cap. Driveways close to Lichfield Road get it as much as any other street.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is nearly as good as the forecourt. AdBlue does not mix with diesel; it sinks to the bottom of your tank and waits there. Overnight doesn't change that.
Put your keys indoors tonight — or a person might take it away at breakfast — and phone us. Your drive is where it gets drained, whether in Shelfield or Heath End. Late-night drains outside a house are no problem: the pumps are quiet.
Shelfield: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
You filled up, set off, and a mile or two later your motor began to run roughly, smoke, lose power or light up the dashboard. Somewhere on Mill Road or else on the road towards Lichfield — under 10 miles away.
Put simply: the AdBlue has been pulled through the system. Mileage sets how deep it goes: filter and pipework first, then the injection pump and each injector. It goes deeper with every mile covered and each restart.
Do this: pull up anywhere safe, then switch your engine off. Leave by the first junction — not the services beyond — if you're on the M6 Toll, under 3 miles from Shelfield. It will not have cleared, and so there is no sense restarting to find out. Phone us and say how far you travelled.
A hire or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank?
You have had the vehicle barely a week. On your own car, AdBlue is missing or somewhere else. On this one, its inlet is just next to the diesel inlet — news to you. Throughout West Midlands, nobody is immune.
What it means: the same as the situations above, depending on whether it's run, with one more stage. The owner often needs to approve any work, under plenty of hire and fleet agreements.
Do this: hire firm or your fleet manager to begin with, us next, since settling it beforehand saves time. If you're stranded in the car park at Bloxwich, or by Shelfield Methodist Church, whilst you wait for an answer, leave your car off.
Not sure it was AdBlue in your diesel tank, Shelfield?
At times, "I think so" is the most you can truthfully say. What cap was taken off, you cannot recall; meanwhile the bottle weighs lighter than expected, and a whiff of ammonia hangs by your filler. Perhaps it happened in a hurry at the school gates at St Francis Catholic Primary School, or on a friend's drive in Vigo.
The point: your motor is not harmed by a little AdBlue splashed on the filler. A diesel tank with AdBlue in it is another matter. Any AdBlue in the tank will be pulled in by starting the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Do this: behave as though it got in, and don't start your motor. Call us and explain what you saw; we'd rather check a tank that turns out clean than drain one that has already been run.
Shelfield: what each AdBlue drain has in common
Whichever scenario you are in, this job starts the same way. Wherever your vehicle stands — The Four Crosses's car park, a road beside The Paris of Saint Mark Shelfield & High Heath, a drive, a forecourt — the van gets there and asks for the liquid, the amount, and whether the engine has been run. The price comes on the call, before a van leaves, and the answers set the work.
Draining your tank comes next, then a full flush — more important after urea than with petrol, because crystals and corrosion will not go by themselves, no matter how long you wait. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Never started? In that case about half an hour once we are there covers most jobs.
Last, we fire it up. Our technicians confirm it runs correctly on fresh diesel before leaving. Permanent damage is very unusual if it is spotted soon, and the whole job is done where the vehicle is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies cover misfuelling, so check yours while the van travels.
About Shelfield and where it is
Shelfield is a village in the West Midlands, situated near the River Tame and close to the cities of Lichfield and Walsall. Shelfield sits at an elevation of 141 metres, with its semi-detached housing stock reflecting the area's residential character. Shelfield is located near other small settlements such as Heath End and Stubbers Green, and is around 6.8 miles from Lichfield. Shelfield has a population of approximately 3377 people.
Shelfield and West Midlands: AdBlue drains across the area
Shelfield is a village, and the same vans that cover it work the places around it too, Stubbers Green and Rushall among them, across the WS postcode area. Telling us a WS4 1 postcode finds you fastest of all.
Centre of Shelfield or a lay-by near Shelfield Park: wherever it is, the vehicle never needs to shift an inch for this drain. The van drains it where it stands. Assuming doesn't help near St. Francis of Assisi Shelfield Catholic Church, close to a border or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
Your situation, in one line
Not run yet: keep the car off and call. Run by now? Stop, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder whatever case, in Shelfield and West Midlands, on 0333 366 0103.