Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Farnborough Green: Why It Occurs
Stop here for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Farnborough Green. The remainder of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Many modern diesels around Farnborough Street, as well as Farnborough Green, carry on two fluids; the motor takes only the diesel. Your exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh them, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on many motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Farnborough Green: how it happens
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the car, and letting it run dry leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off A331, or outside The Railway Arms on the way home that evening.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, and so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Frimley or the middle of Farnborough Green: it is the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Farnborough Green forecourt or a driveway out in Farnborough Park, spend a few seconds over these before anything goes in.
- Check the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles mark which belongs in which filler just there.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you pick up a rental or company car — at Frimley's car park, say — rather than when the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever in Hampshire, follow this routine.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine stopped, and not in a rush beside Blackwater Valley Road at the roadside.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, yes, yet it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap never opened off.
Find at the second or third stage that the bottle went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Step five is out.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Farnborough Green?
Don't start your motor: that is where the short order of things begins. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. Diluting it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Shell, BP or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing your car away if you ask. Your own driveway around Farnborough Green is the place it stays.
Already started? Pull over once it's safe, then turn off. Farnborough Green sits under a mile from the M3; on it, take the next exit. A short hop across Farnborough Green is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 50 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What takes place when we arrive in Farnborough Green
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Frimley CofE School, close to TK Maxx or on your own drive. Our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run, because those replies settle this work and the quote. The price is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Then your tank is emptied and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. The filter cleaned or, if needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; and then a check of your car. Before we leave, our technicians start the engine and make sure that it's running smoothly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour after our technicians get there, provided the motor has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet at night beside a house. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Farnborough Green
Farnborough Green is a locality situated on the riverside in north-east Hampshire, with an elevation of around 63 metres. Farnborough Green lies near the borders with Surrey, close to places like Frimley and Frimley Green. Farnborough Green has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. Farnborough Green is located approximately 30 miles from central London, making it a commuter base for some residents.
AdBlue drains across Hampshire, Farnborough Green included
Hawley Lane and Frimley Green are among the places around Farnborough Green, a small village, that the same teams cover, over GU postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting GU16 7.
Your car stays where it is. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Memorial Garden, a side street close to St Peter's: our technicians drain the vehicle where it stands. If you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Our Lady Queen of Heaven, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Farnborough Green drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it is, anywhere around Hampshire: switch it off and call 0333 366 0103.