Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Hagley
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page aside for now, keep the ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. In West Hagley, finding it before your motor runs normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Plenty of modern diesels around Iverley, like those in West Hagley, carry on two fluids; your engine gets just the diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have both side by side under one flap. Filling the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Seldom topped up, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think what cap to use. It's in that gap that the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around West Hagley
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, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Station Road before work, or in the car park outside The King Arthur on the way home.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after begun, carries on. Hagley or the middle of West Hagley: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these first, on a forecourt around West Hagley or a drive over in Pedmore. Seconds, no more.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- Can't find it next to your diesel inlet? Then check below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Hagley? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than once the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Worcestershire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Brake Lane, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop when the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, tip slowly using the built-in spout.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
West Hagley: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The short order of things, beginning with no starting your engine. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — Shell, BP or any other — the attendants will normally help roll the vehicle clear, if you ask. At home in West Hagley? So your car remains put.
Already run? Stop when it's sensible, then turn off. Leave the M5 — under 5 miles out of West Hagley — at the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Birmingham, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across West Hagley.
Our arrival around West Hagley, and what happens next
By Hagley Primary School, near St Saviour or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, our technicians come to it. The answers settle this work and the price, and so our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run. No one heads out until you have had the price by phone.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. More than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and none of that clears out unaided, no matter how long it sits. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Your engine is started next and checked to confirm it runs smoothly, all before our technicians go.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive, as long as the motor has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About West Hagley and where it is
West Hagley is a suburban area in Worcestershire, situated near the River Stour and close to the neighbouring settlements of Hagley and Stakenbridge. West Hagley sits at an elevation of around 97 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. West Hagley is located near the city of Birmingham, which is approximately 10.9 miles away, and is also within commuting distance of London, around 106.6 miles to the southeast. West Hagley has a population of around 4237 people, according to recent estimates.
West Hagley and Worcestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, West Hagley shares its vans surrounding areas — Stakenbridge, Broome — right through DY postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Give a postcode beginning DY9 0, and our van arrives quickest.
Your car remains put. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Pedmore Cricket Club, a side street close to Hagley Pavilion: we drain it where it stands. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Haybridge High School Sports Centre? By a county line? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
West Hagley drivers: the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave it off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Worcestershire.