AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Harold Park: How It Happens and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, keep your ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Around Harold Park, finding it before your motor runs normally means draining and a thorough flush where it stands. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it does not — useful if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel motor: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads around Harold Park and Great Warley carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your 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 comes with a filler of its own. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place the two together under one flap. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, tipped by someone who must stop and think which cap it needs. It is in the gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Harold Park
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Harold Court Road, or on the way home in the car park at The Saxon King.
Unfamiliar cars come next, as well. Rentals, new vehicles and company motors put their fillers in new places, and habit reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Third, the bottle fits: diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as readily, and after the pour begins, no part stops it. Harold Wood or the heart of Harold Park: it takes the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in South Weald or a forecourt in Harold Park, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of motors show which goes in each inlet right there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Harold Wood.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere around Greater London the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Elgin Avenue, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly through the own spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your 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. Stage five stays out.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank in Harold Park already?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the motor. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
At a forecourt — Esso, Shell or any other — the staff will usually help push the car clear, when you ask. On your own drive around Harold Park? So the vehicle stays put.
Where your motor has run already, pull over somewhere safe and switch the car off. The next junction is where to leave if you are on the M25, under a mile from Harold Park. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Chelmsford, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Harold Park.
Our arrival in Harold Park, and what happens next
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Harold Court Primary School, close to Maylands Golf Club or on your own drive. Both the work and our price depend on three replies — what fluid, what quantity, and whether it's run — so our technicians ask. You get that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after the tank is emptied. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Before we go, our engineers fire it up and make sure that it's running properly.
If the motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Before we get there, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About Harold Park and where it is
Harold Park is a suburban area located on the riverside in Greater London, with an elevation of around 39 metres. Harold Park sits near the outskirts of London, approximately 17.4 miles from the city centre, and is close to nearby places such as Harold Wood and Harold Hill. Harold Park is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, which is typical of many suburban areas in the region. Harold Park has a population of around 4355 residents, according to approximate estimates.
AdBlue drains around Harold Park and across Greater London
Harold Hill and Brook Street are among the towns near Harold Park, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout RM postcodes. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting RM3 0.
Moving your car isn't needed. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near St Paul, Harold Hill, a lay-by on the way to Henderson Sports and Social Club, a drive. Awkward to explain, like the back of Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church? Close to a border? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
For Harold Park people, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Keep it off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Greater London.