--- title: Explained: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank Aldborough Hatch canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/aldborough-hatch-greater-london/ location: Aldborough Hatch county: Greater London latitude: 51.582970 longitude: 0.101320 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-16 --- # Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Aldborough Hatch: Why It Happens Pause here for a moment when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Aldborough Hatch. If you are reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not. ## AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank Many newer diesels on the roads round Aldborough Hatch and Fairlop carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own. Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of motors share a single flap for the two, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The error lives in that gap. ## How AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs around Aldborough Hatch It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up. The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Oaks Lane before work, or in the car park outside The Hawbush on the way home. Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand gets to for the cap it would have used on the old one. And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Newbury Park or the middle of Aldborough Hatch: it is the same few seconds either way. ## Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Fullwell Cross or a forecourt around Aldborough Hatch, check these. They take a few seconds. - The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by position. - Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two. - Open the flap and look for a label — many vehicles mark what goes in each inlet just there. - The handbook. If your filler isn't by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which. - Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Goodmayes? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not once the light goes on. ## AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank Anywhere in Greater London the light comes on, this is a routine for the day. - Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Applegarth Drive. - Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but it does the trick. - The two behind a single flap? Then confirm the lid on your diesel filler is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle. - Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty. - Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong tank? That is where you stop. Never go on to stage five. ## Aldborough Hatch: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank? The short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is sucked from. If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Tesco, ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the pump. If you are on your own drive in Aldborough Hatch, leave it where it is. Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. On the M11, under 3 miles from Aldborough Hatch, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Aldborough Hatch is less a job than a run of under 10 miles towards London, so say. ## Our arrival around Aldborough Hatch, and what takes place next By William Torbitt Primary School, near St Peter's Church or on your own driveway: wherever your car has stopped, we come to it. We ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run, since the replies decide the work and our price. On the phone call itself, you are told the price — before dispatch. Draining that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more here than with petrol. After the fuel filter is flushed — or renewed, where needed — clean diesel is added, and then your vehicle is tested. Before we leave, our technicians fire it up and make sure that it is running smoothly. Unrun cars mostly need a half-hour job after arrival. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. It's worth checking your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies. ## About Aldborough Hatch, for a moment Aldborough Hatch is a suburban area in northeast Greater London, situated near the River Roding at an elevation of around 28 metres. Aldborough Hatch lies approximately 11 miles from central London and is close to nearby places such as Newbury Park and Little Heath. Aldborough Hatch is characterised by its predominantly terraced housing stock, which reflects the typical residential architecture of the region. Aldborough Hatch forms part of the wider London urban area, with the city of London being around 9.6 miles away. ## AdBlue drains across Greater London, Aldborough Hatch included As a residential suburb, Aldborough Hatch has the same vans as surrounding places — Little Heath, Seven Kings — right across IG postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting IG2 7. Your car remains where it is. Draining happens on the spot, whether a drive, a road near Newbury Park Masjid, or a layby on the way to Seven Kings Park. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Imamia Mission, ring and ask instead of guessing. ## The short version for Aldborough Hatch people Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, anywhere around Greater London: switch it off then phone 0333 366 0103.