East Dulwich: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around East Dulwich. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels around Herne Hill, like those in East Dulwich, run on two liquids; your engine takes just your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on every filling station call-out, again and again. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less often. Mistakes happen in the gap between them.
East Dulwich: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off Barry Road before work, or in the car park outside The Castle heading home: that's where the hurried top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and once it is gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is a second factor: a strange vehicle.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of East Dulwich or out in Dulwich Village.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Knights Hill or a forecourt around East Dulwich.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't see it next to your diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside North Dulwich, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
For the day the warning appears — wherever it is around Greater London — a routine to follow.
- Turn off after you park — level ground, motor off, and never rushed beside Landells Road at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both share a flap, make sure it is shut before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it is full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm your diesel filler stayed closed throughout. Only then, start the car.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Do not go on to stage five.
East Dulwich: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Don't start your motor: that is how the short order of things starts. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Thinning it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — BP, Esso or another — the attendants will normally help push your car clear, when you ask. If you are on your own drive in East Dulwich, leave the vehicle where it is.
Already run? Pull over once it is sensible, then switch off. The next junction means the place to leave if you're on the M4, under 10 miles from East Dulwich. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Westminster, under 5 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across East Dulwich.
Our arrival in East Dulwich, and what occurs next
The van comes to the car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near St. Clement with St. Peter, or by Heber Primary School. Both the work and our price rest on three replies — which liquid, which amount, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. That price comes on the call, before any van leaves.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. With AdBlue that matters 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. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel is added, and the fuel filter is flushed or changed as needed. We don't go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor has not run take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About East Dulwich
East Dulwich is a suburban area in south London, situated approximately 4.6 miles from the city centre. East Dulwich sits at an elevation of around 42 metres, with its terraced housing stock characteristic of the late 19th and early 20th century development in the area. East Dulwich is located near other notable areas such as Dulwich Village, Honor Oak, and Nunhead, and is part of the larger London urban landscape. East Dulwich has a population of around 15981 residents.
AdBlue drains in East Dulwich and across Greater London
As a residential suburb, East Dulwich has the same vans as surrounding areas — Honor Oak, Nunhead — all the way across SE postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quote a postcode that starts SE22 0, and the van gets there quickest.
The car doesn't need to move. Anywhere it sits — beside Christ Church, on a lay-by en route to Dawson's Hill, on a drive — that is where it is emptied. Tricky to pin down, like the back of East Dulwich Tabernacle? Close to a border? Asking beats assuming, so phone.
East Dulwich people: the short version
Tip nothing till you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle switched off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Greater London.