Forestdale: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
Keep the motor and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a full flush, done right where the car sits around Forestdale, is usually what it needs when found before your motor runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
No single liquid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels near Forestdale and Upper Shirley run, with diesel for the engine. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place both together under one flap. Diesel goes in at every filling station visit, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. It is in that gap that the slip lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Forestdale: how it happens
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off Pixton Way before work, or in the car park outside Forestdale Arms on the way home: that's where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where the hand reaches — yet a hire car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is the second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
A spouted bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after started, keeps on. Whether it takes place in Selsdon or the middle of Forestdale, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Farleigh Court or a forecourt around Forestdale, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Look for it.
- The handbook says where it lives when your filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Sanderstead.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Anywhere across Greater London the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Switch off once parked — level ground, engine stopped, and never in a rush beside Friarswood on the verge.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, but it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. Where both sit under a flap, make sure it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Gently does it, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting your car, shut the cap and check again that the diesel cap was never came off.
Find during the second or third step that AdBlue went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Stage five is off limits.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Forestdale?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the attendants to help push the vehicle away from the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Esso, the BP or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Forestdale.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. Leave the M25 — under 10 miles out of Forestdale — at the next exit. A short hop across Forestdale is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival around Forestdale, and what takes place next
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Forestdale Primary School, close to Monk's Hill Sport Centre or on your own drive. What fluid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask since the replies decide both work and price. The quote comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Once the fuel filter is cleaned — or replaced, if needed — clean diesel goes in, and finally the car is tested. We don't go until it has been started and is running correctly.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Forestdale, for a moment
Forestdale is a suburban area in Greater London, situated approximately 11.7 miles from central London and 11.2 miles from Westminster. Forestdale sits at an elevation of around 99 metres, with its terraced housing stock being a predominant feature of the area. Forestdale is located near other suburban areas such as Selsdon, Addington, and New Addington, and has a population of around 7920 residents.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, Forestdale included
Addington and New Addington are among the places near Forestdale, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over CR postcodes. Fastest of all: give a CR0 9 postcode for our van.
Shifting the vehicle isn't needed. Anywhere it stands — near Addington Methodist Church, in a layby en route to Addington Court Golf Club, on a drive — that is where it gets drained. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of St Francis, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Forestdale drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere around Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103.