Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Charlwood
Stop reading for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the motor hasn't turned, it's emptied and fully rinsed where the vehicle sits around Charlwood. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page covers the reasons it occurs and the ways to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
No single fluid but two: that is how many modern diesels around Charlwood and Povey Cross carry, with diesel for the motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Other motors keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place the two together behind one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. The slip lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens in Charlwood
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off The Street before work, or in the car park outside The Half Moon on the way home.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once begun, keeps on. Pagewood or the middle of Charlwood: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Charlwood forecourt or a drive out in Ifield Green, spend a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says which it is when your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Gatwick Airport, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever across Surrey, follow this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Ifield Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish once your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour slowly using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, then look once more — making sure the diesel cap stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Charlwood?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car clear of the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Tesco, the Esso or anywhere else. If you're on your own drive around Charlwood, leave the car where it stands.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then turn off. On the M23, under 5 miles from Charlwood, that means the next exit. A short hop across Charlwood is a smaller job than a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 25 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Charlwood: what occurs when our engineers turn up
By Charlwood Village Primary School, close to Charlwood Village Hall or on your own driveway: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. We ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run, since the answers determine this work and the price. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Then your tank is drained and the system rinsed thoroughly. 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. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. After that our engineers start it and confirm it runs correctly before we leave.
Unrun cars usually need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Charlwood itself
Charlwood is a village in Surrey, situated near the riverside and surrounded by nearby places such as Pagewood, Russ Hill, and Norwood Hill. Charlwood has a population of around 903 people and is characterized by semi-detached housing. Charlwood sits at an elevation of 68 metres, approximately 24.7 miles from London and 23.2 miles from Brighton and Hove. Charlwood remains a small, residential community with a rural feel.
AdBlue drains around Charlwood, and Surrey beyond
Being a village, Charlwood shares its vans nearby areas — Russ Hill, Norwood Hill — all the way across RH postcodes and the wider area around them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting RH6 0.
Moving the vehicle isn't needed. The drain happens on the spot, whether a drive, a street by St Nicholas, or a layby towards Charlwood Recreation Ground. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Providence Chapel, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Charlwood people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Surrey, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.