AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Epping: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
Pause reading for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Epping. Not happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it for good.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your motor — yet plenty of current diesels driven round Epping and Bell Common hold a second fluid too. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors share a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled constantly. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur around Epping?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off St. John's Road before work, or in the car park at George & Dragon on the way home.
New-to-you vehicles come second, as well. Rentals, new motors and company motors place their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and once the tip begins, no part halts it. It's a few seconds, whether out in Ivy Chimneys or right in the heart of Epping.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Epping or a driveway out in Gernon Bushes. Seconds, that's all.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- Many cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler is if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Cheshunt? Check with whoever drove it last before leaving, not once the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light comes on — wherever you are in Essex — a routine to use.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Church Row.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — once you have found the filler and read the cap.
- The two behind a single flap? Then make sure the cap on your diesel filler is still closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and look again — making sure the diesel cap remained closed throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Never carry on to step five.
Epping: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel won't dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the bottom of the tank, right where fuel is taken from.
The attendants at Shell, Harvest Energy or any forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the car clear when you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Epping.
When the motor has been run already, pull over safely then turn it off. Epping lies under a mile from the M25; on it, take the first junction. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Epping makes a smaller job than driving under 25 miles to London — so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival around Epping, and what happens next
Wherever the car has stopped, whether by Epping Primary School, beside St John the Baptist or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Which liquid got in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask because the replies decide both work and price. On the phone call itself, you hear our quote — before anything else.
Your system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is drained. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or replaced as needed. Next our technicians fire it up and confirm it runs properly before leaving.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Epping itself
Epping is a town in Essex, situated approximately 16.7 miles north-east of central London, with a population of around 11187 people. Epping sits in a valley at an elevation of 111 metres, surrounded by woodland and nearby places such as Ivy Chimneys and Coopersale Street. Epping has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant in the area. Epping remains a commuter town, with many residents travelling to London for work.
AdBlue drains across Essex, Epping included
Epping is a town, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, Stewards Green and Coopersale Street among them, across the CM postcode area. Fastest of all: give a CM16 4 postcode for our van.
Your car does not need to shift. Anywhere it stands — beside Epping Methodist Church, in a lay-by heading to Lower Swaines Recreation Ground, at home — that's where it gets cleared. Assuming doesn't help behind Epping Library, on a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down; ring and ask.
The short version for Epping people
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere around Essex, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.