Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Englefield Green: Why It Occurs
Pause reading a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Around Englefield Green, finding it before your motor turns usually means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. Here in advance? Then the rest explains why it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many modern diesels in Egham Wick, like those in Englefield Green, carry on two fluids; your engine takes only the diesel. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to clean it, from its own tank.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. Many of vehicles share a single flap for the two, whereas others move the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think what cap it needs. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank happens around Englefield Green
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Armstrong Road before work, or in the car park outside The Armstrong Gun on the way home.
Unfamiliar motors come next, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company cars put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing stops the pour after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Royal Holloway or the middle of Englefield Green, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Englefield Green forecourt or a driveway out in Bishopsgate, take a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many motors, size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to your diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you collect a hire car or company car — from Egham's car park, say — not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, anywhere in Surrey, use this routine.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Englefield Close.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — once you've found your filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Step five stays out.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Englefield Green?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Filling up with diesel will not dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of that tank, just where fuel is taken from.
The staff at BP, Texaco or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the car away when you ask. Your own driveway in Englefield Green is the place it should stay.
If the motor has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next exit is the place to come off when you're on the M25, under 3 miles from Englefield Green. A short hop across Englefield Green is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Englefield Green: what happens when our technicians turn up
Our van reaches the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own drive, near The Social Hall, or outside St Jude's CofE Infant School. Which fluid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask because the answers set the work and quote. The quote comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then your tank is emptied and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: the crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of it washes away on its own, however long it sits. Filter cleaned or, where needed, swapped; clean diesel in; then a check of the car. Before we go, we fire it up and check that it is running properly.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive, as long as the engine has not run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night beside a house. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Englefield Green and where it is
Englefield Green is a suburban area in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of around 65 metres, and is located approximately 19.8 miles from London. Englefield Green has a mix of housing types, but is predominantly characterised by detached homes. Englefield Green is near several notable places, including Royal Holloway and the village of Egham. Englefield Green has a population of around 8240 residents.
AdBlue drains across Surrey, Englefield Green included
Being a residential suburb, Englefield Green has the same vans as nearby places — Ripley Springs, Egham — all the way through TW postcodes and the wider area beyond. Give a postcode beginning TW20 0, and the van arrives quickest.
The vehicle remains put. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to St Jude's, a lay-by on the way to Royal Holloway Arboretum, a drive. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Andrews, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Englefield Green motorists
First, the cap; then, the tip. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Surrey.