AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Cowley: Why 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 ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your engine hasn't turned, it is emptied and thoroughly purged where your car sits in Cowley. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's how many modern diesels near Cowley and Little Britain run, with diesel for your motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
There is a filler for every tank. Many of cars have a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, the diesel side gets filled constantly. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side is filled — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. That gap is where the error lives.
Cowley: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off High Street before work, or in the car park at The Crown on the way home.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is a second thing: a new vehicle.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after begun, carries on. It's a few seconds, whether out in Cowley Peachy or bang in the heart of Cowley.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Colham Green or a forecourt around Cowley, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- The handbook shows which it is if the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask 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 outside West Drayton.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
For the day the warning appears — anywhere you are across Greater London — a simple routine to follow.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, motor off, and not in a rush by Station Road at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, but it does the trick.
- The two under a single flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel side is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Stage five is off limits.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Cowley?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to thin it.
At a forecourt — Esso, Shell or any other — the attendants will normally help push the vehicle clear, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Cowley.
Where your engine has been run by now, stop somewhere safe and turn it off. Cowley sits under a mile from the M25; on it, take the next exit. Distance counts — a quick hop across Cowley makes a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to Westminster — so say roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Cowley, and what occurs next
Wherever the car came to rest, be it by Cowley St Laurence CofE Primary School, beside Brunel University Library or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Both the work and our price depend on three answers — which fluid, what quantity, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. No one heads out before you have had our quote by phone.
Draining the tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of the fuel system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own. After your filter is flushed — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and then your car gets tested. Before leaving, our technicians fire it up and confirm that it is running smoothly.
Unrun cars mostly mean a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Cowley and where it is
Cowley is a suburban area in northwest Greater London, situated on the riverside at an elevation of around 36 metres. Cowley lies approximately 15 miles from central London and is near the neighbouring areas of Cowley Peachy and Uxbridge Moor. Cowley has a population of around 7902 residents, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type in the area. Cowley is characterized by its residential community and proximity to the city of Westminster.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, Cowley included
Cowley Peachey and Uxbridge Moor are among the places near Cowley, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout UB postcodes. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting UB8 3.
There's no need to move your car. The drain happens on the spot, be it a drive, a street near St Laurence, or a layby towards Cowley Recreation Ground. Assuming won't help behind Brunel University Sports Centre, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and check.
For Cowley motorists, the short version
First, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Greater London.