Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Eltham
Stop here a minute when the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Normally, if the engine has not turned, it's drained and thoroughly rinsed where the vehicle is around Eltham. Reading before the event? Then the rest covers how it happens and how to prevent it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels in Avery Hill, as well as Eltham, run on two fluids; your engine takes only the diesel. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh it, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have both together under one flap. Diesel goes in at every forecourt call-out, week in, week out. Much less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone thinking about where it goes. It's in that gap that the slip happens.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around Eltham?
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Archery Road, or at Rising Sun on the way home that evening.
The old car's filler is where your hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after started, keeps on. It's seconds, whether out in Well Hall or right in the centre of Eltham.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Eltham forecourt or a drive out in Horn Park, spend a few seconds on these before anything goes in.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Many motors fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside the nearest station? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever it is around Greater London — a routine to follow.
- Switch off after you park — flat ground, motor off, and not rushed beside Roper Street on the verge.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have found your filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop when your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly through its own spout.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Step five stays off limits.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Eltham?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than mixing — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
If you are on a forecourt, whether it's the Sainsbury's or the Esso, ask the staff to help push your car away from the petrol pump. If you are on your own driveway around Eltham, leave the vehicle where it is.
When the engine has been run already, stop safely then switch it off. On the M20, under 10 miles from Eltham, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Eltham is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles towards London, and so say.
Our arrival around Eltham, and what takes place next
Our technicians come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Eltham Church of England Primary School, close to Vue or on your own driveway. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it's run, since those answers decide this work and our price. No one heads out before you've had our quote by phone.
Then the tank is emptied and the fuel system purged thoroughly. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. That is why it matters more. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Your engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before we head off.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit from arrival. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Eltham itself
Eltham is a locality in southeast London, situated near the River Thames at an elevation of around 68 metres. Eltham lies approximately 8.9 miles from central London and is close to nearby places such as Well Hall and Middle Park. Eltham has a population of around 4622 people and is predominantly composed of flat dwellings. Eltham is also near New Eltham, which is a separate but adjacent area.
AdBlue drains around Eltham and across Greater London
Being a small village, Eltham has the same vans as nearby areas — Middle Park, New Eltham — right through SE postcodes and the wider area beyond. Quickest of all: quote a SE9 1 postcode for the van.
Moving your car is not needed. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near Eltham Library, a lay-by on the way to Eltham Palace, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Eltham Arcade.
In short, for Eltham motorists
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere in Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.