AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fortis Green: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off then phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Fortis Green. The remainder of this page covers why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads about Fortis Green and East Finchley carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. AdBlue's own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the gas.
There's a filler on every tank. Many of cars share a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up 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 frequently. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Fortis Green
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Hurry follows from the warning. Your car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Woodside Avenue, or heading home in the car park outside Clissold Arms.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
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. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Fortis Green or out in Cranley Gardens.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Fortis Green forecourt or a driveway out in Muswell Hill, spend a few seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Alexandra Palace, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Greater London that is.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Lanchester Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, confirm it is shut before the bottle comes up.
- Finish when that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, pour slowly through its own spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? So stop right there. Step five is out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Fortis Green?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your motor. Don't switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't 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 pulled from.
On a forecourt — Esso, Shell or another — the staff will usually help push the car away, when you ask. If you're on your own driveway in Fortis Green, leave the car where it sits.
Where your engine has been run by now, stop safely then switch the car off. Fortis Green lies under 5 miles from the M1; there, use the next junction. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Fortis Green is smaller a job than a run of under 10 miles towards London, and so say.
What takes place when our technicians turn up around Fortis Green
By Tetherdown Primary School, near Royal British Legion or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, our engineers come to it. What fluid went in, the amount, and if it ran: we ask since the answers set both work and quote. No one heads out before you've heard the price by phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. After your filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where required — fresh diesel is added, and finally your car is tested. Before we leave, our engineers start the engine and confirm that it is running properly.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour job after arrival. The equipment is fine on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Fortis Green itself
Fortis Green is a suburban area in north London, situated near the banks of the River Thames at an elevation of around 90 metres. Fortis Green lies approximately 5.6 miles from central London, with nearby places including Cranley Gardens, Highgate, and Coldfall. Fortis Green has a population of around 9153 people, predominantly residing in flats. Fortis Green is characterized by its riverside setting and proximity to urban amenities.
AdBlue drains around Fortis Green, and Greater London beyond
Throughout N postcodes, the teams that cover Fortis Green — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Coldfall and Highgate among them. Fastest of all: quote a N10 3 postcode for the van.
Moving the car isn't needed. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Aquarius Archery Club, a side street near Fortis Green Tennis Club: our engineers drain the car where it is. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of Stormont Lawn Tennis and Squash Club.
In short, for Fortis Green motorists
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — and so leave it off and ring 0333 366 0103.