Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Upper Catshill: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, done just where the vehicle sits around Upper Catshill, is normally all it takes if found before the engine runs. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the page covers the why it occurs and the how to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels around Lydiate Ash, like those in Upper Catshill, run on two fluids; your engine gets only your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas and cleans it.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. Plenty of motors share a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side gets filled all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens in Upper Catshill
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Woodrow Lane before work, or in the car park at The Royal Oak on the way home.
New-to-you cars are second, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company motors place their fillers in new places, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after started, keeps on. Whether it takes place in Lower Marlbrook or the middle of Upper Catshill, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Upper Catshill forecourt or a driveway over in Catshill, spend a few seconds over these before any goes in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many motors carry a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Barnt Green? Ask whoever drove the car last before leaving, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere in Worcestershire, use this routine.
- Switch off after you park — level ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Cheltenham Avenue at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- The two under a single flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel filler is still closed before raising the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Upper Catshill?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, right where fuel is taken from.
At a forecourt — Esso, Harvest Energy or any other — the attendants will usually help push the vehicle clear, when you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Upper Catshill.
Where the engine has been run by now, pull over safely and switch the vehicle off. On the M5, under a mile from Upper Catshill, that means the next junction. A short hop across Upper Catshill is a smaller job than a run towards Birmingham, under 10 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Upper Catshill: what occurs when our technicians turn up
By Catshill First School, close to Welcome Hall Evangelical Church or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. The answers settle this work and our quote, and so our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run. That quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after that tank is drained. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. Hence it counts more. The filter flushed or, if it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; then a check of your vehicle. Before we go, our engineers start the engine and check that it is running correctly.
If your motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Upper Catshill itself
Upper Catshill is a locality in the West Midlands region of England, situated in Worcestershire at an elevation of 143 metres. Upper Catshill lies approximately 9.9 miles northwest of Birmingham and 101.3 miles northwest of London, within a network of nearby places including Lower Marlbrook, Wildmoor, and Upper Marlbrook. Upper Catshill is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, reflecting the area's residential nature.
AdBlue drains in Upper Catshill and across Worcestershire
Wildmoor and Upper Marlbrook are among the places near Upper Catshill, a small village, that the same teams cover, over B postcodes. A postcode starting B61 0 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle stays where it is. The drain takes place right there, be it a driveway, a street near Catshill Methodist Church, or a lay-by towards George Wagstaff Memorial Meadow. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Catshill Village Hall? By a county line? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
In short, for Upper Catshill people
Always, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere across Worcestershire.