AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hammersmith: Why It Happens and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Hammersmith. Reading before the event? In that case what follows explains how it happens and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels on the roads about Hammersmith and Bedford Park carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of vehicles have a single flap for the two, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. 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 mistake grows in that gap between them.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Hammersmith: how it occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a driveway off King Street before work, or in the car park at The Salutation on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car warns you, and if it's empty, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is a second thing: a strange motor.
Lastly, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and after the pour starts, no part halts it. Whether it happens in Castelnau or the middle of Hammersmith, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, at a forecourt around Hammersmith or a driveway over in West Kensington. Seconds, that's all.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel inlet? Then look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Kensington Olympia, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
On the day the light comes on — anywhere it is in Greater London — a routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Studland Street.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop once your tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly using the own spout.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check again, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five is out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hammersmith already?
Do not start your motor: that is how the short order of things starts. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of that tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
The staff at BP, Shell or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the vehicle away if you ask. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive around Hammersmith.
Already started? Stop when it is safe, then switch off. On the M4, under 3 miles from Hammersmith, that means the next exit. About how far did it go? Crossing Hammersmith is smaller a job than a trip of under 5 miles to Westminster, and so tell us.
When our technicians arrive in Hammersmith, what occurs?
Wherever the vehicle came to rest, whether by West London Free School Primary, near Hammersmith Town Hall or on your own drive, our van comes to it. Those answers determine the work and the price, so our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether it has run. The quote is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
Then the tank is cleared and the system cleaned thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. Filter flushed or, where needed, swapped; fresh diesel in; then a check of the vehicle. After that our technicians start the engine and make sure it runs properly before we go.
Using pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your motor hasn't run need roughly half an hour once our technicians arrive. No money upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Hammersmith itself
Hammersmith is a locality in west London, situated on the north bank of the River Thames at an elevation of around 9 metres. Hammersmith sits within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, close to neighbouring areas such as Castelnau, Brook Green, and Shepherds Bush. Hammersmith is predominantly composed of flat dwellings, reflecting its urban character. Hammersmith is located approximately 4.7 miles west of central London, near the city of Westminster.
AdBlue drains round Hammersmith, and Greater London beyond
Hammersmith is a small village, and the vans that cover it also work the places near it, Brook Green and Shepherds Bush among them, across the W postcode area. A postcode starting W6 0 gets the van to you fastest.
There's no need to move the vehicle. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Rivercourt Methodist Church, a lay-by on the way to Dalling Road Open Space, a driveway. Awkward to explain, like the back of RavensWall Climbing Centre? By a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so phone.
In short, for Hammersmith motorists
Always, the cap; then, the pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep it switched off then ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, throughout Greater London.