AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Woodgate: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. In Woodgate, finding it before the motor runs usually leaves draining and a thorough flush on the spot. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one fluid but two: that is what plenty of modern diesels around Woodgate and Kitwell run, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
There is a filler for each tank. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
Woodgate: how AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from your car, and running out leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Clapgate Lane, perhaps outside Old Crown on the way home after work.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — because a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
Nothing halts the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Lapal or the heart of Woodgate: it takes the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Ridgacre or a forecourt around Woodgate, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Position can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually don't.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives if the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park at Rowley Regis? Check with whoever drove the car last before you set off, rather than when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere across West Midlands the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, motor off, and never rushed beside Woodgate Lane on the verge.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've located your filler and read it.
- Both under a single flap? So confirm the cap on your diesel side stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Discover at the second or third step that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Woodgate?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the base rather than blending — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Harvest Fuel Station, Shell or another forecourt will normally help to push the car clear when asked. If you're on your own drive in Woodgate, leave the vehicle where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. On the M5, under a mile from Woodgate, that means the next junction. About how far did it go? Hopping across Woodgate is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles towards Birmingham, so say.
When our engineers turn up around Woodgate, what occurs?
The van reaches the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, beside Woogate Valley Urban Farm, or outside Woodgate Primary School. What fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask since the answers set both work and price. On the phone call itself, you are told our price — ahead of anything else.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of it clears out on its own, however long it sits. Filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. Next we start it and check it runs smoothly before leaving.
If the motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About Woodgate itself
Woodgate is a suburban area in the West Midlands, situated near the River Rea and close to the Woodgate Valley. Woodgate sits at an elevation of 188 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Woodgate is located near several other places, including Lapal and Illey, and is approximately 5 miles from Birmingham city centre. Woodgate is also within commuting distance of London, being around 103 miles away.
AdBlue drains across West Midlands, Woodgate included
Being a residential suburb, Woodgate shares its vans surrounding areas — Woodgate Valley, Illey — all the way across B postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quote a postcode that starts B32 3, and our van gets there fastest.
The vehicle does not need to move. Draining happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a road near Carters Lane Baptist Church, or a layby towards Broadhidley Wood. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Bartley Green War Memorial.
Woodgate drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, wherever across West Midlands: switch the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.