Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Frimley Ridge: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where the vehicle sits in Frimley Ridge, is normally all it takes if found before your motor runs. Not happened yet? Further down, the page covers the reasons it occurs and the how to prevent it altogether.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many current diesels on the roads about Frimley Ridge and Deepcut carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to clean it, from its own tank.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally goes in from a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think what filler it needs. The error lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Frimley Ridge: how it occurs
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Upper Chobham Road before work, or in the car park outside The Wheatsheaf heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
New-to-you motors are second, too. Hire cars, new motors and company motors put their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and after the tip starts, nothing stops it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Frimley Ridge or out in Heatherside.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Frimley Ridge or a driveway out in Camberley. A few seconds, that's all.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Look inside the fuel flap: many cars carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Ask when you pick up a hire car or company car — at Camberley's car park, say — rather than when the warning comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Surrey that is.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time to spare — never rushing on the side of Falmouth Close.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have located the filler and read the cap.
- Both under one flap? Then make sure the lid on your diesel filler is still shut before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and look once more — confirm the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. After that, start the car.
Spot at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Don't go on to stage five.
Frimley Ridge: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The short order of things, starting with no starting your motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Texaco, the Esso or somewhere else. At home in Frimley Ridge? Then the vehicle stays put.
When the engine has run by now, pull over somewhere safe and turn it off. On the M3, under a mile from Frimley Ridge, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Frimley Ridge is smaller a job than a trip of under 50 miles to Westminster, so tell us.
Frimley Ridge: what happens when our engineers get there
The van comes to the car wherever it has come to rest — your own drive, beside St Francis, or by Ravenscote Junior School. Both the work and the quote depend on three replies — which fluid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. You get that quote by phone, before anybody sets off.
Draining your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of your system. 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, where it must be, replaced; clean diesel in; then a test of the vehicle. Before we leave, we start it and make sure that it's running correctly.
If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Frimley Ridge
Frimley Ridge is a locality in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of 114 metres, and is characterized by its predominantly detached housing. Frimley Ridge is located near the towns of Frimley and Camberley, and is close to the neighbouring areas of Heatherside and Crawley Hill. Frimley Ridge is approximately 28 miles from London, making it a commuter base for those working in the capital. Frimley Ridge has a small population of around 828 residents.
AdBlue drains across Surrey, Frimley Ridge included
Crawley Hill and Frimley are among the towns around Frimley Ridge, a small village, that the same vans cover, over GU postcodes. Give a postcode beginning GU15 1, and our van gets there quickest.
No need to shift the vehicle. Draining happens right there, whether a driveway, a street by Tomlinscote Sports Centre, or a lay-by on the way to Camberley Heath Golf Club. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Heatherside Community Centre? Close to a border? Asking is better than guessing, so ring.
Frimley Ridge motorists: the short version
Pour no AdBlue till you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the vehicle switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, throughout Surrey.