Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Shenley Fields: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Shenley Fields. The rest of this page covers why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that is how plenty of modern diesels around Shenley Fields and Northfield run, with diesel feeding the engine. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to clean them, from its own tank.
There is a filler on every tank. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place the two side by side under one flap. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in the gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place around Shenley Fields
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Shenley Lane, or outside Weoley Castle on the way home that evening.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once begun, keeps on. Woodcock Hill or the middle of Shenley Fields: it is the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Shenley Fields or a driveway over in Griffins Hill. Seconds, that's all.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Northfield? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, not once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere across West Midlands the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Cornbrook Road.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — after you've located your filler and read it.
- Both behind one flap? So make sure the cap on your diesel side stays shut ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and check again that your diesel cap never came off.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Don't carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Shenley Fields?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — Sainsbury's, Esso or another — the attendants will normally help push the vehicle away, when you ask. At home around Shenley Fields? Then your car remains put.
Already started? Stop once it is sensible, then switch off. Shenley Fields sits under 3 miles from the Frankley Services Southbound; there, take the first junction. A short hop across Shenley Fields is a smaller job than a run towards Birmingham, under 5 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Shenley Fields, and what takes place next
The van comes to the car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, beside St David's Church and Hall, or by Green Meadow Primary School. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — what liquid, what amount, and if it's run — so our engineers ask. That quote is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; and then a test of the car. After that we fire it up and make sure it runs properly before we leave.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Shenley Fields
Shenley Fields is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Rea and close to the city of Birmingham. Shenley Fields has a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities, with nearby green spaces such as Woodcock Hill. Shenley Fields is located at an elevation of 192 metres, and its residents are approximately 4.7 miles from Birmingham city centre. Shenley Fields is also within commuting distance of London, which is around 101 miles to the southeast.
AdBlue drains in Shenley Fields and across West Midlands
Over B postcodes, our teams covering Shenley Fields — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Weoley Castle and Bartley Green among them. Quote a postcode that starts B29 4, and the van arrives fastest.
Your car does not need to move. We drain it where it is — a side street near Shenley Lane Community Association and Sports Centre, a lay-by on the way to Shenley Green Park, a drive. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Holloway Hall.
Shenley Fields motorists: the short version
First, the cap; then, the tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it is, wherever across West Midlands: keep the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.