Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Furzedown: Why It Happens
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your engine has not turned, it's drained and thoroughly purged where your car sits around Furzedown. Here before the event? Then the rest explains why it comes about and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the motor — but many newer diesels driven about Furzedown and Tooting Bec carry a second liquid as well. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Some motors put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have the two side by side behind one flap. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. Seldom filled, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think which cap it needs. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank happen in Furzedown?
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Nimrod Road before work, or in the car park outside North Mitcham Association Club on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar car.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, carries on. It's seconds, whether out in Streatham Park or right in the heart of Furzedown.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Furzedown forecourt or a driveway out in Tooting Bec Common, spend a few seconds over these before any goes in.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many cars, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to the diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Tooting? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, not once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever around Greater London, follow this routine.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Seely Road.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — once you've located the filler and read it.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your 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.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into the diesel side. Skip step five altogether.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Furzedown?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the attendants to help push your car away from the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Esso, the Applegreen or anywhere else. Your own driveway in Furzedown is where it stays.
Already run? Pull over once it is sensible, then turn off. The next exit is where to come off if you are on the M4, under 10 miles from Furzedown. A short hop across Furzedown is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 10 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians arrive around Furzedown, what occurs?
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Furzedown Primary School, close to St Paul's Church, Furzedown or on your own driveway. Those replies decide this work and our quote, and so we ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it's run. You get that price on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Emptying your tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel system. More than with petrol, it counts here: crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. The engine is fired up next and checked to confirm it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
If the engine has not run, most 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 at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Furzedown and where it is
Furzedown is a suburban area in south London, situated near the River Wandle and close to Streatham Park and Streatham Vale. Furzedown sits at an elevation of around 22 metres, with terraced housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Furzedown is located approximately 6.1 miles from central London, with nearby Tooting and Westminster being within easy reach. Furzedown has a population of around 19,933 people, making it a relatively densely populated area.
Furzedown and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
Streatham Vale and Tooting are among the towns near Furzedown, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout SW postcodes. A postcode starting SW17 9 gets our van to you fastest.
Your car remains put. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a street by Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, or a layby towards Vectis Gardens. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of North East Mitcham Community Association, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The short version for Furzedown motorists
Tip nothing till you have read the cap. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, anywhere in Greater London: keep the car off and ring 0333 366 0103.