Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Rock: Why It Occurs
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. In The Rock, catching it before your engine turns usually means a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of modern diesels in Dawley Bank, like those in The Rock, run on two fluids; the motor gets only the diesel. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the gas to clean them, from its own tank.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. The slip lives in that gap.
The Rock: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Broom Drive, or outside Wrekin View on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: an unfamiliar car.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of The Rock or out in Old Park.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Ketley Bank or a forecourt in The Rock, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally do not.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Look for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Oakengates? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Wherever in Shropshire the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of The Brambles, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Never go on to stage five.
The Rock: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the Sainsbury's or the Asda, ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the pump. On your own drive in The Rock? So the vehicle remains put.
When the motor has run already, stop somewhere safe then turn the vehicle off. On the M54, under a mile from The Rock, that means the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Wolverhampton, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across The Rock.
The Rock: what occurs when we arrive
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Newdale Primary School & Nursery, close to Site of Battle of Cinderloo or on your own driveway. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run, because those replies determine the work and the quote. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Your system is then cleaned thoroughly, once your tank is drained. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and none of it washes out by itself. That is why it matters more. Once the filter is flushed — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then your vehicle is tested. After that our engineers fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before we go.
Using pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor hasn't run take about half an hour after we arrive. Paying is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About The Rock and where it is
The Rock is a suburban area in Shropshire, situated inland at an elevation of 181 metres, with The Rock being one of several residential neighbourhoods near Wolverhampton. The Rock sits within the West Midlands region, approximately 128 miles northwest of London, and The Rock is close to other local areas such as Old Park, Overdale, and Newdale. The Rock has a population of around 3765 people, with The Rock being characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Shropshire, The Rock included
The Rock is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the places around it, Overdale and Newdale among them, across the TF postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting TF3 5.
There's no need to shift the vehicle. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Second Lieutenant Clifford Wallace Jenson USAAF, a lay-by on the way to Newdale park, a driveway. Tricky to explain, like the back of TK Maxx? Close to a county line? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
The short version for The Rock drivers
Always, the cap; then, the tip. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere around Shropshire.