Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Upper Ettingshall: Why It Happens
Stop here a minute when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your engine has not run, it's drained and fully purged where your car sits in Upper Ettingshall. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the why it happens and the ways to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many current diesels on the roads about Upper Ettingshall and The Coppice carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Other motors keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have the two together under one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think what cap to use. It's in that gap that the error happens.
Upper Ettingshall: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Upper Ettingshall Road before work, or in the car park outside Coseley Working Men's Club heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a hire car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is the second thing: an unfamiliar car.
No part halts the pour after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. It's seconds, whether out in Roseville or right in the heart of Upper Ettingshall.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Look at these first, on a forecourt in Upper Ettingshall or a drive out in Coseley. A few seconds, no more.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Coseley.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — anywhere you are across West Midlands — a routine to use.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, motor off, and never rushed beside Catherine Road on the verge.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've found the filler and read it.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where the two share a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Stop once the tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, pour gently using its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Discover at the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Leave out stage five entirely.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Upper Ettingshall already?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting the motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment 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 your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help push the car clear of the petrol pump if you are on a forecourt — the BP, the Shell or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Upper Ettingshall.
If your motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Come off the M6 — under 5 miles out of Upper Ettingshall — at the next junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Upper Ettingshall is smaller work than a run of under 5 miles towards Wolverhampton, so say.
Our arrival in Upper Ettingshall, and what occurs next
Wherever your car came to rest, whether outside Hurst Hill Primary School, beside Coseley Library or at home, our van travels to it. Those replies decide this work and our price, and so our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. No one heads out before you've heard our price by phone.
Emptying that tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. Hence it matters more. Filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a test of the vehicle. The engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
If your engine 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 after dark. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Upper Ettingshall, for a moment
Upper Ettingshall is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, near the River Tame, with a mix of semi-detached housing and local amenities. Upper Ettingshall sits at an elevation of around 169 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside. Upper Ettingshall is close to nearby places such as Roseville, Hurst Hill, and Deepfields, and is about 3.2 miles from Wolverhampton city centre.
AdBlue drains round Upper Ettingshall, and West Midlands beyond
Upper Ettingshall is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Hurst Hill and Deepfields among them, across the WV postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting WV14 9.
The car doesn't need to move. Anywhere it stands — near St Mary's, in a layby heading to little field, at home — that's where it gets cleared. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Iron Horse.
For Upper Ettingshall motorists, the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across West Midlands.