How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Shirley Heath
Keep your motor and ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where the vehicle sits in Shirley Heath, is normally all it needs when caught before the engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the why it occurs and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that is how many newer diesels around Shirley Heath and Blossomfield carry, with diesel feeding your motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray cleans the gas.
Every tank comes with one filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles share a single flap for both, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in the gap that the mistake lives.
Shirley Heath: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the vehicle, and letting it run dry means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Charlecote Croft, perhaps at Woodmans Rest on the way home after work.
New-to-you motors come second, too. Rentals, new motors and company cars put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
No part halts the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Shirley Street or the middle of Shirley Heath, it is the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Dickens Heath or a forecourt in Shirley Heath, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- Plenty of vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- Can't see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Shirley.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever across West Midlands the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine off, and not rushed by Woodlands Lane on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Both behind one flap? Then confirm the cap on your diesel filler stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Shirley Heath already?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting your motor. Leave the ignition off as well, since on many diesels switching it on by itself runs your fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car clear of the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Sainsbury's, the Shell or anywhere else. On your own drive in Shirley Heath? Then your car stays put.
Where your motor has been run by now, stop somewhere safe and switch the car off. Shirley Heath lies under 3 miles from the M42; on it, use the next junction. Distance counts — a short hop across Shirley Heath makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Birmingham — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Shirley Heath, and what occurs next
Outside Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic Primary School, near Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic Church or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — which fluid, what quantity, and if it has run — so we ask. No one sets off before you have had our price by phone.
Then that tank is drained and the fuel system rinsed 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 the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. After your filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally the vehicle is tested. Then we start the engine and make sure it runs correctly before we leave.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor hasn't run take roughly half an hour once our engineers are there. No money in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Shirley Heath and where it is
Shirley Heath is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated approximately 6.5 miles south of Birmingham city centre. Shirley Heath sits at an elevation of around 144 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Shirley Heath is located near other local places such as Shirley Street, Three Maypoles, and Haslucks Green, and is home to a population of around 5289 people.
AdBlue drains across West Midlands, Shirley Heath included
Three Maypoles and Haslucks Green are among the places around Shirley Heath, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout B postcodes. Give a postcode that starts B90 4, and the van gets there quickest.
There's no need to move the car. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to TK Maxx, a lay-by on the way to Bills Wood Local Nature Reserve, a drive. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Next, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Shirley Heath drivers
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across West Midlands, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103.