Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hanworth: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, leave the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Hanworth. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel car, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to the engine — but plenty of current diesels driven around Hanworth and Sunbury Common carry another liquid as well. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank has a filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on many cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
Hanworth: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, the car drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Oxford Way before work, or in the car park outside The Hampton on the way home.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's the second thing: a new vehicle.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Hanworth or out in Kempton Park.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Hanworth forecourt or a drive over in Hampton Hill, take a few seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives when the filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you pick up a hire car or fleet car — from Kempton Park's car park, perhaps — rather than once the warning comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Anywhere in Greater London the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Bear Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It sounds silly. 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.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip stage five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Hanworth already?
Don't start your engine: that's how the short order of things begins. Keep your ignition off too, because on many diesels it by itself runs the pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump if you are on a forecourt — the Esso, the Shell or somewhere else. Your own drive around Hanworth is the place it should stay.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. Hanworth sits under 3 miles from the M3; there, use the next exit. A short hop across Hanworth is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Hanworth, and what occurs next
We come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Oriel Academy West London, near Hanworth Village Hall or on your own driveway. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — which liquid, what amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. That price comes on the call, before any van leaves.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. Testing comes at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. Before we go, our engineers fire it up and check that it's running smoothly.
Unrun cars usually need a half-hour visit after arrival. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Hanworth, briefly
Hanworth is a suburban area in southwest Greater London, situated on the River Crane at an elevation of around 19 metres. Hanworth lies approximately 12.5 miles from central London and is near neighbouring areas such as Kempton Park, Feltham, and Felthamhill. Hanworth has a population of around 7862 people and is predominantly composed of flat-type housing. Hanworth is also close to the city of Westminster, which is about 12.4 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Hanworth and across Greater London
Feltham and Felthamhill are among the places around Hanworth, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout TW postcodes. A postcode starting TW13 6 gets the van to you fastest.
The vehicle doesn't need to shift. Draining takes place right there, be it a drive, a road near Hanworth Villa FC, or a layby towards Rectory Meadow. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Royal British Legion.
In short, for Hanworth drivers
Tip no AdBlue until you've read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it sits, anywhere across Greater London.