Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Fulwell
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where the vehicle sits around Fulwell, is normally what it takes if found before your engine runs. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your motor — but plenty of modern diesels driven about Fulwell and Hampton hold another liquid too. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to fresh it, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on many vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. The slip lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Fulwell: how it happens
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a drive off Stanley Road, or on the way home in the car park at Brouge.
New-to-you vehicles come second, as well. Rentals, new cars and company motors put their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
No part halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Hampton Hill or the middle of Fulwell: it is the same few seconds either way.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a driveway in Eel Pie Island or a forecourt in Fulwell.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Look inside your fuel flap: plenty of motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it next to your diesel inlet? Then check beneath the bonnet or in your boot — the owner's manual will say which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — anywhere you are across Greater London — a simple routine to use.
- Stop somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of South Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the car, close the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap was never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Fulwell already?
Don't start your motor: that is how the short order of things begins. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so do not switch the car on. Diluting it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the base rather than mixing — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the Shell, ask the staff to help push your car clear of the pump. If you're on your own driveway around Fulwell, leave it where it stands.
Where the motor has run already, pull over somewhere safe then turn the car off. Come off the M3 — under 5 miles out of Fulwell — at the next exit. A short hop across Fulwell is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Fulwell, and what happens next
We come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Stanley Primary School, close to Teddington Council School WW1 or on your own driveway. Both the work and our price depend on three answers — what fluid, what amount, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. No one sets off before you've had our quote by phone.
Then the tank is cleared and the fuel system cleaned thoroughly. More than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of that clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. The filter flushed or, if needed, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a check of the car. We do not leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unstarted vehicles usually mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is fine on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Fulwell itself
Fulwell is a suburban area in southwest Greater London, situated near the River Thames and close to neighbouring communities such as Hampton Hill and Teddington. Fulwell sits at a relatively low elevation of around 19 metres above sea level, with a mix of terraced housing and other residential properties. Fulwell is located approximately 10.7 miles from central London, with Westminster just over 10 miles away. Fulwell has a population of around 8930 residents, living in a predominantly terraced housing environment.
Fulwell and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, Fulwell has the same vans as surrounding places — Strawberry Hill, Teddington — all the way across TW postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quote a postcode that starts TW11 8, and the van gets there fastest.
The car remains where it is. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street near St Michael's Fulwell, a lay-by on the way to Strawberry Hill Golf Club, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Creative and Performing Arts Centre.
Fulwell people: the short version
First, the cap; after that, the tip. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere across Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless — so leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103.