West Smethwick: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation
Has your motor turned over since the AdBlue was put in? This one point settles almost everything about what comes next. Not run so far? Then leave the car like that, wherever your car is — West Smethwick or Sandwell. Usually this means emptying and thoroughly cleaning it right there in West Smethwick — so leave your key and engine off then phone 0333 366 0103. If it's run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Step one stays unchanged, even though the job grows.
Anywhere across West Midlands it took place, one of the cases below matches yours.
At the pump in West Smethwick: AdBlue in a diesel
Just now, nozzle still in your hand, it dawns on you that the cap you opened was the wrong one, there at the pump. It might be the Texaco, or perhaps the Beesley Fuels, or a different station around West Smethwick.
The upshot: of all places to find out, the forecourt is the best. Still in the tank, and nothing pulled through: that is where the AdBlue sits.
Next: avoid the urge to fire it up only to free up the petrol pump. Ask the attendants to help you roll the car into a parking bay, keep your receipt or the bottle, and phone us from the forecourt. If it cannot be shifted, it can be emptied at the petrol pump: the equipment is explosion-proof and fine on a busy forecourt.
AdBlue in your diesel tank on a West Smethwick drive?
On the dash, a warning had been lit for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the drive, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look once more at the cap. Right off Marshall Street is not less likely from any other place.
What it means: if you haven't driven since, this is almost as good as the forecourt. Diesel and AdBlue stay separate: the AdBlue settles to the base of the tank and stays put, however long the night.
Put the keys indoors tonight — otherwise someone might drive it off first thing — and phone us. Rood End or West Smethwick: wherever your driveway sits, that is where it is cleared. Night-time empties beside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise.
West Smethwick: set off with AdBlue in a diesel?
A short way beyond filling up, your motor started playing up: rough running, smoke, less power, lights on your dash. Mallin Street, perhaps, or the route towards Birmingham — a trip of under 5 miles.
The upshot: the system has pulled AdBlue through by now. Mileage sets how deep it goes: filter and pipework first, then the injection pump and every injector. It travels deeper with every mile driven and every restart.
Do this: stop somewhere sensible, then turn the engine off. Leave at the first junction — not the services further along — if you're on the M5, under a mile from West Smethwick. It will not have cleared, so there is no point starting it again to check. Let us hear the mileage driven as you ring.
AdBlue in the wrong tank: hire, lease and company vehicles
You have had this vehicle hardly a week. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel one, which you didn't know, because your own vehicle either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. Across West Midlands, no one is immune.
In short: an extra step on top of the situations above, and those turn on whether it's run. Many hire and company agreements want the owner to approve work on the car.
Sorting it before the van arrives is quicker, and so ring the hire company or your fleet manager, then us. Keep it switched off while the answer arrives, even if you are waiting outside Smethwick Galton Bridge or near James Timmins Chance memorial.
West Smethwick: unsure whether it was AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Honestly, the best answer may be that you think it did. A slight ammonia whiff hangs near your filler, the bottle seems too light, and the cap you took off is a blur. A hurried stop by the gates of George Betts Primary Academy, or a call to a friend in Langley Green: either fit.
Put simply: spillage round your filler leaves your engine no harm. Inside your diesel tank, by contrast, AdBlue damages it. Any AdBlue in that tank will be drawn in by starting the car, and the start wouldn't settle which it is in any case.
Assume it went in, and don't turn your engine. Tell us what you saw on your phone. A clean tank looked at is a happier result than an already-run one emptied.
What each AdBlue drain around West Smethwick has in common
Whichever situation you are in, the job starts the same way. Three things come once our technicians reach your car — at a filling station, a drive, a road beside Oldbury Cemetery Chapel or the car park at The Ivy Bush: the fluid, the quantity, and whether the motor has run. The price comes on the call, ahead of anyone setting off, and the replies set the job.
AdBlue forms crystals and eats at certain metals used in fuel systems, so it does not rinse out on its own; that's why a full flush, after the drain, counts much more here than with petrol. Fresh diesel goes in once the filter has been flushed or replaced, and the car is then tested. Where your motor hasn't run, allow roughly half an hour on site, in most jobs.
Firing it up comes last. We check it runs smoothly on new diesel before leaving. If it is caught early, the car very rarely has permanent damage, and the whole job takes place where it is. Payment is that day, never in advance. For the insurer, there is a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About West Smethwick and where it is
West Smethwick is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Rea and close to the city of Birmingham. West Smethwick sits at an elevation of around 167 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. West Smethwick is located near several other suburban areas, including Rood End, Tat Bank, and Londonderry, and is approximately 104.8 miles northwest of London.
AdBlue drains across West Midlands, West Smethwick included
Tat Bank and Londonderry get the same vans as West Smethwick, a residential suburb, along with further places over B postcodes. Fastest of all: a B67 7 postcode to show where you stand.
No towing is needed, whether parked in the centre of West Smethwick or on a layby en route to Black Country Millennium Forest, so leave it where it is. The van drains it in place. If you are somewhere hard to explain, close to Congreational Church of West Smethwick or close to a border, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Your scenario, summed up
Not run yet: keep it off and call. Run already: pull over, power down, phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, within West Smethwick or anywhere across West Midlands.