How It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in East Barnet
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Normally, if your motor has not run, it's emptied and thoroughly rinsed where the car sits around East Barnet. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the reasons it occurs and the ways to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Not one liquid but two: that's what many newer diesels around East Barnet and New Barnet carry, with diesel for your motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
There is a filler for every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that's the layout on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
East Barnet: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from your car, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Stevenson Close, perhaps outside Prince of Wales on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar vehicles come next, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors place their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Oakleigh Park or the middle of East Barnet: it takes the same few seconds either way.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Totteridge or a forecourt in East Barnet, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- The handbook shows which it lives when the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Oakleigh Park? Ask whoever drove the car last before leaving, not once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
When the light comes on, anywhere in Greater London, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Netherlands Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Finish once the tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly through its built-in spout.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop just there. Stage five stays out.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in East Barnet?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, right where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Esso, BP or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the car away when asked. Your own driveway around East Barnet is where it stays.
When the motor has been run by now, pull over somewhere safe then turn the vehicle off. Leave the M25 — under 5 miles out of East Barnet — at the next exit. A short hop across East Barnet is a smaller job than a run towards London, under 10 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What takes place when we get there around East Barnet
Outside St Mary's CofE Primary School, East Barnet, close to Church Hall or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, we come to it. Both the work and our quote depend on three answers — what fluid, which quantity, and if it's run — so our technicians ask. You hear that price by phone, before anyone heads out.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, after your tank is drained. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. Hence it matters more. After the filter is cleaned — or replaced, if needed — fresh diesel is added, and finally the car is tested. Next we fire it up and check it runs properly before leaving.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About East Barnet
East Barnet is a suburban area in Greater London, situated near the River Dollis and close to the outskirts of the city. East Barnet sits at an elevation of around 68 metres, with nearby Oakleigh Park and Barnet providing local amenities. East Barnet has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. East Barnet is located approximately 9.2 miles from central London, making it a commuter-friendly location.
AdBlue drains round East Barnet, and Greater London beyond
Being a residential suburb, East Barnet shares its vans nearby areas — Barnet, Whetstone — right through EN postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting EN5 1 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car doesn't need to move. Wherever it stands — near Brookside Methodist Church, on a lay-by heading to Dame Alice Owen's Open Space, at home — that's where it gets drained. Ring and ask instead of assuming if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of East Barnet Baptist Church.
The short version for East Barnet drivers
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, wherever across Greater London: switch the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.