AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Blackheath: How It Occurs and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your motor and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Around Blackheath, catching it before the motor turns normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to the engine — yet plenty of modern diesels seen around Blackheath and Maze Hill hold a second liquid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Blackheath?
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things lining up together.
Haste follows from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Hare and Billet Road, or heading home in the car park outside The Hare and Billet.
New-to-you cars come next, as well. Rentals, new vehicles and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as readily, and after the tip begins, no part halts it. It takes a few seconds, be it in Blackheath Royal Standard or bang in the centre of Blackheath.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Be it a Blackheath forecourt or a drive out in St Johns, take a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles show which goes in which inlet right there.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel filler? Then check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at the nearest station.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — anywhere it is around Greater London — a routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Mounts Pond Road.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located your filler and read the cap.
- The two under a single flap? Then confirm the cap on your diesel side stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Stop once your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour slowly through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Step five is off limits.
Blackheath: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Short list, then. Top of it: the motor remains unstarted. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. Thinning it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is sucked from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Tesco or the BP, ask the staff to help push the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. Your own driveway in Blackheath is the place it should stay.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then turn off. On the M11, under 10 miles from Blackheath, that means the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards London, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Blackheath.
Blackheath: what happens when we turn up
Outside All Saints' Church of England Primary School Blackheath, close to Kevin Godley or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. The replies settle the work and our price, and so our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Nobody sets off before you've had our price by phone.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. The filter cleaned or, if needed, replaced; clean diesel in; then a test of the car. The motor is started next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before we go.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor has not run need about half an hour once we arrive. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Blackheath
Blackheath is a suburban area in southeast London, situated on a plateau at an elevation of 39 metres above sea level. Blackheath is characterised by its predominantly flat housing stock, with many residents living in apartments. Blackheath is located near several notable areas, including Blackheath Royal Standard, Blackheath Park, and the historic borough of Greenwich. Blackheath is home to a population of approximately 4855 people, who enjoy its proximity to central London, just 6.1 miles away.
Blackheath and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
Being a residential suburb, Blackheath shares its vans nearby areas — Blackheath Park, Greenwich — all the way through SE postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting SE3 0 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting your car is not necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Samuel Smiles, a lay-by on the way to the green space at the edge of the village, a drive. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Queen Caroline's Bath, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Blackheath drivers, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Greater London.