AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Smethwick: How It Occurs and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. In Smethwick, finding it before the engine turns usually leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page explains the why it takes place and the how to prevent it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Plenty of current diesels on the roads about Smethwick and Summerfield Park carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Your exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean it, from its own tank.
Every tank has a filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, while others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is filled far less frequently, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen around Smethwick?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and running out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Cheshire Road, perhaps outside Red Cow on the way home after work.
Unfamiliar vehicles are next, as well. Rentals, new motors and company cars put their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as readily, and once the pour starts, no part stops it. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Smethwick or out in Cape Hill.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt in Smethwick or a driveway out in Soho. Seconds, no more.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Smethwick Rolfe Street, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — anywhere it is around West Midlands — a routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Watery Lane, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park then switch off first.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've located your filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car 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, close the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never came off.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Stage five stays off limits.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Smethwick already?
Brief list, then. Top of that: the motor remains off. Leave your ignition off too, since on many diesels it alone runs your pump. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the base rather than blending — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at JET, Esso or any forecourt will normally help to push your car clear when asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Smethwick.
Already run? Pull over when it is sensible, then turn off. Smethwick lies under 3 miles from the M5; on it, use the next exit. A short hop across Smethwick is a smaller job than a run towards Birmingham, under 3 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Smethwick, and what happens next
Anywhere your car has stopped, be it outside Crocketts Community Primary School, beside WWI Memorial or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run, because those answers decide this work and the quote. You get that price by phone, before anyone heads out.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away unaided. Hence it matters more. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs properly, all before our technicians go.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Smethwick
Smethwick is a town in the West Midlands, situated on the banks of the River Rea and the Birmingham Canal, with a mix of terraced housing and industrial areas. Smethwick sits near the city of Birmingham, approximately 2.8 miles from the city centre, and is part of the larger West Midlands conurbation. Smethwick has a diverse community and a range of local amenities, including those found in nearby areas such as Cape Hill and Sandwell. Smethwick is located at an elevation of around 157 metres above sea level, and is about 103.6 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains across West Midlands, Smethwick included
Being a riverside town, Smethwick has the same vans as nearby places — Sandwell, Londonderry — all the way across B postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Give a postcode beginning B66 3, and our van gets there quickest.
The car does not need to shift. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Smethwick Heritage Centre, a lay-by on the way to Smethwick High Street and Crocketts Lane Conservation Area, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Birmid Sculpture.
The short version for Smethwick motorists
Read the cap before you pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Leave it switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across West Midlands.