Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ham
Pause reading a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Ham. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many newer diesels around Twickenham, as well as Ham, run on two liquids; your motor gets only your diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Different tanks, different fillers. 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. Diesel goes in on every filling station visit, again and again. Rarely topped up, AdBlue usually comes out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who has to stop and think which filler it needs. It's in that gap that the error lives.
Ham: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
Haste 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 drive off Mead Road, or heading home in the car park outside The New Inn.
New-to-you motors are second, as well. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
No part halts the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Eel Pie Island or the heart of Ham: it is the same few seconds in both.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these before pouring, at a forecourt around Ham or a drive out in Cole Park. Seconds, no more.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — many cars mark which belongs in each filler just there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler is if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Teddington, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever in Greater London that is.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Lock Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Silly, yes, yet it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Stop once your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently using its own spout.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Ham?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting your motor. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of your tank, right where fuel is taken from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Shell, ask the staff to help roll the car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Ham.
Already run? Stop when it's sensible, then turn off. The next exit is the place to leave when you are on the M4, under 5 miles from Ham. Distance counts — a short hop across Ham makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles towards Westminster — so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians arrive in Ham, what takes place?
Anywhere the car has stopped, whether by Meadlands Primary School, beside St Thomas Aquinas Church or at home, our van comes to it. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and if it ran: our technicians ask since those answers set both work and price. That price comes over the phone, before any van leaves.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears away unaided. Hence it matters more. The filter flushed or, where needed, swapped; clean diesel in; and then a test of your car. Before we go, our technicians fire it up and confirm that it is running correctly.
Unrun vehicles usually need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy forecourt, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Nothing in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It is worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Ham itself
Ham is a suburban area in southwest London, situated near the River Thames and close to Eel Pie Island, Petersham, and Strawberry Hill. Ham is characterized by its terraced housing and relatively low elevation of around 9 metres above sea level. Ham is located approximately 9 miles from central London, with Westminster just over 9 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, Ham included
Ham is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Petersham and Strawberry Hill among them, across the TW postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning TW10 7, and the van gets there quickest.
Moving your car isn't needed. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Ham and Petersham Tennis Club, a side street close to Ham Library: our engineers drain the car where it sits. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Ham Christian Centre? By a border? Asking beats assuming, and so phone.
In short, for Ham drivers
First, the cap; then, the pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will drain it where it stands, anywhere across Greater London: switch it off and phone 0333 366 0103.