Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Tudor Hill: Why It Happens
Stop here a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done just where your car stands around Tudor Hill, is usually all it takes if caught before the engine runs. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds your motor — but many modern diesels driven round Tudor Hill and Doe Bank hold another liquid too. Your exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from its own tank.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The error lives in that gap.
Tudor Hill: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from your car, and running out leads to limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Tudor Hill, or outside The Station on the way home after work.
Unfamiliar cars come next, too. Hire cars, new motors and company motors put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Whether it takes place in Royal Sutton Coldfield or the middle of Tudor Hill, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt in Tudor Hill or a driveway out in Ladywood. Seconds, that's all.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On plenty of motors, size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Sutton Coldfield? Ask whoever drove it last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever around West Midlands the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Donovan Drive, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when your tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure your diesel cap remained shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Step five is off limits.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Tudor Hill already?
Short list, then. Top of that: your motor remains unstarted. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from.
The staff at Texaco, Esso or any forecourt will usually help to push the vehicle away if you ask. Your own driveway in Tudor Hill is the place it should stay.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Tudor Hill sits under 3 miles from the M6 Toll; there, use the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Tudor Hill is smaller work than a trip of under 10 miles towards Birmingham, so say.
What happens when our technicians get there around Tudor Hill
Wherever the car came to rest, whether by St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, near The Great War 1914-1919 or at home, the van comes to it. The replies determine the work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. No one sets off before you've had the quote over the phone.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, once your tank is emptied. 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 does not wash out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Your engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before our technicians head off.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. It's worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Tudor Hill
Tudor Hill is a locality in the West Midlands, situated near the River Tame and close to the city of Birmingham. Tudor Hill lies at an elevation of 116 metres, with nearby Royal Sutton Coldfield and Four Oaks Park providing local amenities. Tudor Hill is characterized by its predominantly flat housing stock, with many residents commuting to Birmingham for work.
AdBlue drains around Tudor Hill, and West Midlands beyond
Tudor Hill is a small village, and our teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Four Oaks Park and Maney among them, across the B postcode area. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting B73 6.
The car doesn't need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Holly Hurst, a side street near Clifton Road Youth Centre: our engineers drain the car where it stands. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Wyndley Leisure Centre.
The short version for Tudor Hill people
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere across West Midlands, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave it off and call 0333 366 0103.