Fairmile: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Keep your engine and ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a full flush, done just where the vehicle stands in Fairmile, is usually what it takes when found before the engine runs. Here in advance? In that case what follows explains how it comes about and how to prevent it happening at all.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single liquid but two: that's how many newer diesels around Fairmile and Claremont Park run, with diesel for the motor. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to clean it, from a separate tank.
Different tanks, separate fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, poured by a driver who has to stop and think what cap it needs. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Fairmile: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from the car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Earleswood, or outside The Fairmile on the way home after work.
Unfamiliar vehicles are next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Nothing stops the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Cobham or the middle of Fairmile, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in West End or a forecourt in Fairmile, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps tend to be blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- The size. On plenty of vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it beside your diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Oxshott? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — wherever you are in Surrey — a routine to follow.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Fairmile Lane.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud while unscrewing it. It seems silly. It does the trick.
- The two behind a single flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Never go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Fairmile?
Don't start your motor: that is where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Shell, the Esso or anywhere else. Your own driveway around Fairmile is where it should stay.
Already run? Stop when it's sensible, then switch off. On the M25, under 3 miles from Fairmile, that means the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Fairmile is less work than a trip of under 25 miles towards Westminster, and so tell us.
Our arrival in Fairmile, and what takes place next
Anywhere the car has stopped, whether by St Andrew's Church of England Primary School, beside Cobham Village Hall or on your own drive, the van comes to it. The replies settle the work and the quote, and so our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run. The price is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Draining that tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. That is why it counts more. Once your filter is cleaned — or renewed, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and then the vehicle gets tested. Before we go, our technicians fire it up and make sure that it is running properly.
If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Fairmile and where it is
Fairmile is a suburban area in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of 44 metres, approximately 16 miles from London. Fairmile is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting the area's residential nature. Fairmile is located near several other suburban areas, including Cobham, Stoke D'Abernon, and Oxshott, and is part of the wider commuter belt around London.
AdBlue drains in Fairmile and across Surrey
Throughout KT postcodes, the teams covering Fairmile — a residential suburb — work the surrounding locations too, Oxshott and Stoke DAbernon among them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting KT11 2.
Moving your car isn't necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street close to Cobham Centre for the Community, a lay-by on the way to Old Surbitonians Memorial Ground, a drive. Guessing doesn't help behind Cobham Library, on a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and ask.
In short, for Fairmile people
Always, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere in Surrey.