AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Friern Barnet: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, keep the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Friern Barnet. Reading in advance? In that case the rest covers how it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single fluid but two: that is how many modern diesels near Friern Barnet and Brunswick Park run, with diesel for your motor. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there spraying treats the fumes.
There is a filler on each tank. Some vehicles put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; plenty more place the two side by side behind one flap. The diesel side is topped up at the pump all the time. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place in Friern Barnet?
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Haste follows from the warning. The vehicle 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 Friern Barnet Road, or on the way home in the car park at Woodhouse Free House.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
Nothing halts the pour once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Colney Hatch or the middle of Friern Barnet: it takes the same few seconds in both.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Whetstone or a forecourt around Friern Barnet, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap instead of going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at New Southgate.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever across Greater London the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of B550.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have found the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Skip step five entirely.
Friern Barnet: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — the nearest petrol station, BP or any other — the attendants will usually help roll your car clear, if you ask. Your own driveway around Friern Barnet is where it stays.
Already run? Pull over when it is sensible, then switch off. Leave the M1 — under 5 miles out of Friern Barnet — at the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Friern Barnet is less work than a trip of under 10 miles to London, and so say.
Our arrival around Friern Barnet, and what takes place next
Our van reaches the car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, beside St John the Evangelist, or outside St John's CofE Junior Mixed and Infant School. The replies decide this work and the price, so we ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. During the call itself, you hear our quote — before dispatch.
Then the tank is emptied and your system purged thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals form, some metals are attacked, and nothing washes away on its own, however long it is left. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Next our engineers start the engine and check it runs smoothly before we go.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor hasn't run take roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Friern Barnet, for a moment
Friern Barnet is a locality in the London Borough of Barnet, situated near the banks of the River Dollis and the North Circular Road. Friern Barnet has a mix of semi-detached housing and other residential buildings, with Colney Hatch and New Southgate nearby. Friern Barnet is located about 7.4 miles from central London, making it a commuter-friendly area. Friern Barnet sits at an elevation of around 68 metres above sea level, in a generally low-lying area of north London.
AdBlue drains about Friern Barnet, and Greater London beyond
Friern Barnet is a small village, and the vans that cover it also work the places around it, New Southgate and North Finchley among them, across the N postcode area. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting N12 0.
Shifting your car isn't necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near St John's Parish Centre, a lay-by on the way to Kennard Road Open Space, a drive. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Friern Barnet Community Library? Close to a county line? Checking beats guessing, so phone.
In short, for Friern Barnet motorists
Pour no AdBlue till you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, throughout Greater London.