AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Crown Wood: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
Leave the engine and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Around Crown Wood, catching it before the engine runs normally means draining and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads about Crown Wood and The Warren carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying cleans the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Other vehicles put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place the two together behind one flap. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. It is in that gap that the slip lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Crown Wood
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Coombe Pine, or heading home in the car park at The Crown Wood.
Unfamiliar motors are second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company motors put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
A spouted bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, carries on. Whether it occurs in Harmans Water or the middle of Crown Wood, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Whether a Crown Wood forecourt or a driveway over in Easthampstead, spend a couple of seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- On many vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Open the flap and check for a label — many motors show which belongs in each inlet right there.
- Can't see it beside your diesel inlet? In that case check below the bonnet or inside the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Martins Heron, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Berkshire that is.
- Turn off once parked — flat ground, motor off, and not rushed by Lightwood at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find during the second or third step that the bottle went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Skip step five entirely.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Crown Wood already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. Leave the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it alone runs the pump. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of blending — and that's where your fuel is sucked from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the BP or the Sainsbury's, ask the staff to help push your car away from the petrol pump. If you're on your own driveway around Crown Wood, leave the car where it stands.
Already run? Stop once it's safe, then turn off. The next exit is where to come off if you're on the A329(M), under 3 miles from Crown Wood. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Crown Wood is a smaller job than heading under 50 miles towards Westminster — so tell us roughly how far it went.
When we get there in Crown Wood, what happens?
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Crown Wood Primary School, close to Bracknell Swimarium or on your own driveway. The replies determine this work and our price, so our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run. You hear that price on the phone, before anybody sets off.
Then that tank is drained and the system purged thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. That is why it counts more. After the filter is flushed — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel goes in, and then your car gets tested. Your engine is started next and tested to confirm it runs correctly, all before our technicians leave.
If your motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — so use the wait to check yours.
About Crown Wood itself
Crown Wood is a suburban area in Berkshire, situated inland at an elevation of 89 metres, and forms part of the larger urban area surrounding London. Crown Wood is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing stock, and is located near other suburban areas such as Harmans Water and Forest Park. Crown Wood sits approximately 27 miles from central London, with nearby Birch Hill also being a notable neighbouring area.
AdBlue drains around Crown Wood and across Berkshire
Crown Wood is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Forest Park and Birch Hill among them, across the RG postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a RG12 0 postcode to our van.
There's no need to move the vehicle. The drain takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a road near Bracknell Leisure Centre, or a lay-by on the way to Farningham Ride. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Forest Park Community Centre, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Crown Wood motorists: the short version
Always, the cap; then, the pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it stands, wherever in Berkshire: keep the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.