--- title: Catford: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank, What Next canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/catford-greater-london/ location: Catford county: Greater London latitude: 51.444570 longitude: -0.020080 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-28 --- # Catford: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Find Your Situation Everything hinges on a single detail: if your motor has been run since the AdBlue was added — more than anything else. Not run yet? Then keep it that way, wherever your vehicle is — Catford or Lewisham. Ring 0333 366 0103 with the ignition and motor both off. Across Catford, such a case is typically drained and flushed where it stands. Stop the moment you safely can then switch off, if it has been run. A bigger job, yes, but the identical first move. Anywhere in Greater London it happened, one of the cases below fits yours. ## On a Catford forecourt with AdBlue in a diesel Just at this point, bottle still in your hand, you realise that the cap you took off was the wrong one, there at the pump. Whether Esso, Sainsbury's or anywhere else in Catford, the case is identical. What it means: this is the ideal spot to find out. Still in that tank, with no fuel drawn onwards: that is where the AdBlue sits. Your move: stay out of the car, even if the queue needs freeing. Phone us from the forecourt after your vehicle is in a space — the staff will help roll it — then save the bottle. Draining it right at the petrol pump is fine when it cannot be shifted, since the equipment is explosion-proof. ## AdBlue in the diesel tank at home in Catford The warning light had been on for days. You bought a bottle, poured it in on the driveway, and only when you put the empty bottle in the recycling did you look again at the cap. It occurs on driveways just off Rushey Green as regularly as anywhere. Meaning? As long as your vehicle hasn't moved since, it is second to the pump case. On the bottom of that tank sits exactly where AdBlue stays, since it won't mix with diesel — and a night passing changes nothing of the difference. Next: stop an early move by putting the keys indoors, then ring us. Crofton Park or Catford: wherever your drive is, that's where it is drained. Late-night drains outside a house are fine: the pumps are low-noise. ## Catford: drove off with AdBlue in a diesel? A short way after filling up, your engine started misbehaving: rough running, smoke, lost power, warnings on your dash. Anywhere along Bromley Road or else on the road to London — under 10 miles away. Meaning? Your pump has taken the AdBlue up. Through the filter, along the lines, and — the more the distance — deeper into the high-pressure pump and every injector. Each mile and each restart takes it further. What to do: pull over where it's safe to do so and switch off. Services further on are too far: on the M20, under 10 miles out of Catford, take the first junction. Don't restart the car to see if it has cleared; it will not have. Call us and say how far you drove. ## Hire, lease or company car with AdBlue in the wrong tank It's a car you have had for a week. The AdBlue filler sits right next to the diesel filler, which you did not know, because your own car either has no AdBlue or keeps it somewhere else. It can happen to anyone, anywhere around Greater London. The upshot: exactly as above, split by if it ran, only with one added step. Plenty of hire and company contracts need the owner's approval for repairs. Sorting it before we turn up is quicker, so phone the rental company or your fleet manager, then us. If you're stuck in the car park outside the nearest station, or by London Borough of Lewisham, whilst you wait for an answer, leave the vehicle off. ## Not sure it was AdBlue in the diesel tank, Catford? Sometimes the honest answer is "I think so". The bottle is lighter than it should be, there is a faint smell of ammonia about the filler, and you cannot remember which cap you took off. Maybe at a friend's driveway in Honor Oak Park, or in a rush outside Rushey Green Primary School on the school run. Meaning? Spills outside the filler don't reach the motor at all. AdBlue inside the diesel tank does. Any AdBlue in your tank will be drawn in by firing up your car, and the start would not settle which it is in any case. Take it that it went in, and don't turn the engine. Describe what you saw on your phone. A clean tank checked counts as a happier result than a run one emptied. ## What every AdBlue drain around Catford has in common Whatever the case, one opening is used. Wherever your car stands — The Black Cat's car park, a road beside Broadway Theatre, a drive, a filling station — our van arrives and asks about the liquid, the amount, and if the engine has been run. On the phone, before dispatch, you hear our price, and those answers decide the work too. Then your tank is emptied and the fuel system purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol: AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel is put in after the filter is flushed or replaced, and your car is finally tested. Most unstarted vehicles are a half-hour job from the moment we turn up. Last, our engineers start it. With clean diesel in, it runs while our technicians check it is running correctly, and then we leave. If it is caught early, the car very rarely has long-term damage, and the entire job happens where it is. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Dig out your insurance before we're en route: cover for misfuelling comes included in plenty of policies. ## About Catford, briefly Catford is a locality in south east London, situated on the River Ravensbourne at an elevation of around 22 metres. Catford is located approximately 6.4 miles from central London and is close to nearby places such as Crofton Park, Hither Green, and Ladywell. Catford has a population of around 7643 people and is predominantly composed of flat housing. Catford is a residential area with a mix of old and new buildings, including shops and amenities along its high street. ## AdBlue drains across Greater London, Catford included Catford is a small village, and the same vans that cover it work the towns near it too, Hither Green and Ladywell among them, across the SE postcode area. Quickest of all: a SE6 4 postcode for where you stand. No towing is needed, whether parked in the centre of Catford or on a lay-by heading to Culverley Green Open Space, and so keep it put. The drain is done right there. Assuming won't help beside Lewisham Town Hall, on a county line or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and check. ## The one-line version Unstarted? Leave the car that way and ring. Started by now? Stop, turn off, ring. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest whichever case, in Catford and Greater London, on 0333 366 0103.