AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bulls Cross: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Leave the engine and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 now — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Around Bulls Cross, catching it before the engine turns usually means draining and a full flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Plenty of current diesels on the roads around Bulls Cross and Enfield Highway carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust gas and cleans it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Many of vehicles share a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place in Bulls Cross
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Haste comes from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Turkey Street, or heading home in the car park at The Pied Bull.
Next, your hand goes for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the pour once it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Bulls Cross or out in Bullsmoor.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt around Bulls Cross or a drive over in Freezy Water. A few seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to your diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook will say where.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Turkey Street, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Anywhere around Greater London the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Bowles Green.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once that tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently using the own spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Stage five stays off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Bulls Cross?
Brief list, then. First: your motor stays unstarted. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — BP, Shell or any other — the attendants will normally help roll the car away, if you ask. On your own drive around Bulls Cross? So your car remains where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the motor has already run. Bulls Cross lies under a mile from the M25; there, use the first exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards London, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Bulls Cross.
When our technicians arrive in Bulls Cross, what occurs?
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Capel Manor Primary School, close to St John or on your own driveway. The answers determine the work and the quote, and so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. During the call itself, you hear the quote — before dispatch.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, once the tank is emptied. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and nothing washes out on its own, however long it is left. The filter flushed or, where needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a test of the car. We do not leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we arrive, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Bulls Cross itself
Bulls Cross is a suburban area in Greater London, situated near the River Lea and close to the borders of Hertfordshire. Bulls Cross has a relatively low elevation of around 30 metres and is located near other local areas such as Bullsmoor and Enfield Wash. Bulls Cross is characterized by a high proportion of flat housing and is home to a population of approximately 4245 residents. Bulls Cross is also conveniently located near Forty Hill, another nearby suburban area.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, Bulls Cross included
As a residential suburb, Bulls Cross shares its vans nearby areas — Enfield Wash, Forty Hill — right across EN postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting EN1 4 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car remains where it is. The drain takes place right there, whether a drive, a street near Turkey Street Community Church, or a lay-by on the way to Old Ignatians Loyola Ground. Tricky to explain, like the back of Myddelton House Gardens? By a border? Asking is better than guessing, so ring.
For Bulls Cross people, the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it is, anywhere across Greater London: switch the car off and call 0333 366 0103.