Thimble End: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Stop here for a moment if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, carried out right where your vehicle stands around Thimble End, is usually what it needs if caught before the motor runs. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel goes to the engine — but plenty of current diesels seen round Thimble End and Reddicap Heath hold another fluid too. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Much less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
Thimble End: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Elm Road before work, or in the car park at The Fox on the way home.
Unfamiliar vehicles come next, too. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once begun, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Thimble End or out in Walmley.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Maney or a forecourt around Thimble End, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it beside the diesel filler? Then look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say where.
- The previous driver will know. Ask as you pick up a rental or company car — from Wylde Green's car park, perhaps — rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever across West Midlands the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Meadow Close, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off first.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Never carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Thimble End?
Short list, then. Top of that: the motor stays unstarted. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — JET, Texaco or another — the staff will normally help roll your car clear, if you ask. At home in Thimble End? So your car stays where it is.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Thimble End lies under 3 miles from the M6 Toll; there, take the first junction. Mileage matters — a quick hop across Thimble End makes a smaller job than driving under 10 miles towards Birmingham — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Thimble End, and what takes place next
By The Deanery Church of England Primary School, near The Church of the Holy Cross & St Francis or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and the quote depend on three answers — which liquid, what amount, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. Nobody sets off until you've heard the price by phone.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Filter flushed or, if needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a test of the car. After that our technicians fire it up and check it runs smoothly before leaving.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Thimble End, for a moment
Thimble End is a locality situated on the riverside in the West Midlands, with an elevation of around 124 metres. Thimble End lies approximately 6.4 miles from Birmingham and is close to nearby places such as Walmley, Sutton Coldfield, and Wylde Green. Thimble End has a population of around 2037 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Thimble End is also relatively distant from London, at a distance of 101.2 miles.
AdBlue drains round Thimble End, and West Midlands beyond
Thimble End is a small village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Sutton Coldfield and Wylde Green among them, across the B postcode area. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting B76 2.
The car doesn't need to move. Draining happens on the spot, be it a drive, a road by New Hall Hotel, or a lay-by towards New Hall Hotel & Spa Pitch & Putt. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Alfred Owen Blue Plaque, ring and ask rather than guessing.
For Thimble End people, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere in West Midlands, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.