Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Enfield Wash: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, keep the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your engine hasn't turned, it is emptied and fully rinsed where your vehicle sits in Enfield Wash. Reading in advance? In that case the rest covers why it happens and how to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds the engine — but many newer diesels driven round Enfield Wash and Enfield Lock hold another fluid too. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to fresh them, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of cars have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on each forecourt call-out, again and again. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think what cap it needs. That gap is where the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Enfield Wash: how it takes place
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Bell Lane before work, or in the car park at The White House on the way home.
Then the vehicle is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, carries on. Freezy Water or the middle of Enfield Wash: it is the same few seconds in both.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Bulls Cross or a forecourt in Enfield Wash, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are frequently blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- On many cars, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say where.
- Check with 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 at Enfield Lock.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever around Greater London, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Grove Gardens, not on a slope, not with your engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. 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 is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip slowly through the own spout.
- Shut the cap, and look again — making sure the diesel cap remained shut throughout. Only then, start the car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Skip step five entirely.
Enfield Wash: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Don't start your engine: that is how the short order of things begins. Leave the ignition off too, because on many diesels it by itself starts the pump. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is sucked from.
On a forecourt — BP, Esso or any other — the attendants will normally help roll your car away, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Enfield Wash.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Leave the Holmesdale Tunnel — under 3 miles out of Enfield Wash — at the first junction. Mileage matters — a short hop across Enfield Wash is a smaller job than driving under 15 miles towards London — so say roughly how far it went.
When we turn up around Enfield Wash, what occurs?
Our van reaches the car wherever it stopped — your own drive, beside Albany Leisure Centre, or by Eastfield Primary School. Which fluid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since the replies set the work and quote. You hear that quote by phone, before anybody heads out.
After that: a drain, then a full flush of the whole system. Not like petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. Hence it counts more. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. After that our engineers fire it up and confirm it runs smoothly before we go.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where your motor hasn't run take roughly half an hour after our engineers are there. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Enfield Wash itself
Enfield Wash is a suburban area in the London Borough of Enfield, situated on the banks of the River Lea. Enfield Wash has a mix of terraced housing and local amenities, with nearby areas including Freezy Water and Enfield Highway. Enfield Wash is located approximately 11.6 miles from central London, making it a commuter base for those working in the city. Enfield Wash sits at a relatively low elevation of 22 metres above sea level, close to the Brimsdown area.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, Enfield Wash included
Over EN postcodes, our vans that cover Enfield Wash — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Brimsdown and Enfield Highway among them. A postcode starting EN3 5 gets our van to you fastest.
The car stays where it is. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Albany Park, a side street close to Albany Church: we drain it where it sits. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Ordnance Unity Centre Library.
The short version for Enfield Wash people
Always, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.