AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chelsea: How It Occurs and How to Avoid It
Stop here a minute if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Normally, when the motor hasn't run, it's emptied and thoroughly rinsed where the car sits in Chelsea. Not happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the reasons it occurs and the how to prevent it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels near Chelsea and West Brompton carry, with diesel feeding the engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Some motors keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more have the two together behind one flap. Diesel goes in at every filling station call-out, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less often, normally from a bottle, and normally by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Chelsea: how it takes place
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste comes from the warning. Your car tells 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 Chelsea Manor Street, or heading home in the car park outside The Builder's Arms.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: a new car.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, once started, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Chelsea or out in Brompton.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Belgravia or a forecourt in Chelsea.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Plenty of vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it beside the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Whoever had it before will know. Ask as you collect a hire car or company car — at Imperial Wharf's car park, say — not once the warning appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light goes on, anywhere in Greater London, use this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Sydney Street.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, yet it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Chelsea?
Short order, then. First: your motor remains unstarted. Leave the ignition off as well, because on many diesels switching it on alone runs your fuel pump. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Gulf or the Shell, ask the staff to help push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. At home in Chelsea? So the car stays put.
When your engine has run already, pull over safely and turn the car off. The next junction means the place to come off if you are on the M4, under 5 miles from Chelsea. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Chelsea is less work than a trip of under 3 miles to Westminster, so tell us.
When we get there around Chelsea, what takes place?
Wherever the car has stopped, whether outside Oratory Roman Catholic Primary School, beside Chelsea Methodist Church or at home, the van comes to it. Which liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask because the answers decide both work and price. On the call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of anything else.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test is at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed as needed. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
Unrun vehicles mostly need a half-hour job from arrival. The equipment is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Chelsea, briefly
Chelsea is a locality in southwest London, situated on the north bank of the River Thames. Chelsea sits at a low elevation of around 12 metres, with views across the river to the south. Chelsea is close to several other notable areas, including Brompton, South Kensington, and Knightsbridge, and is home to a population of approximately 8424 people, predominantly living in flats.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, Chelsea included
South Kensington and Knightsbridge are among the places around Chelsea, a neighbourhood, that the same vans cover, throughout SW postcodes. Quote a postcode beginning SW3 5, and our van gets there quickest.
The vehicle stays put. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Chelsea Sports Centre, a lay-by on the way to Dovehouse Green, a drive. Tricky to explain, like the back of ConSept? Close to a county line? Asking is better than assuming, and so ring.
In short, for Chelsea drivers
Pour nothing till you've read the cap. Still AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it stands, anywhere around Greater London: keep it off and ring 0333 366 0103.