Harpsden Bottom: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done right where the vehicle sits in Harpsden Bottom, is usually all it needs if caught before the motor runs. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single liquid but two: that's what many newer diesels near Harpsden Bottom and Henley-on-Thames carry, with diesel feeding the engine. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think what cap to use. It's in that gap that the slip happens.
Harpsden Bottom: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Gillott's Lane, perhaps at The Saracen's Head on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar motors come second, too. Hire cars, new cars and company vehicles put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
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. It takes a few seconds, be it in Harpsden or right in the heart of Harpsden Bottom.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, at a forecourt in Harpsden Bottom or a driveway over in Binfield Heath. Seconds, that's all.
- Where it sits can mislead; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually do not.
- Many vehicles fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many motors mark which belongs in which filler right there.
- The handbook shows which it is if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park outside Henley-On-Thames, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — wherever you are across Oxfordshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Perseverance Hill, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, and look again — confirm your diesel filler stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip step five entirely.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Harpsden Bottom?
Short list, then. First: the engine stays off. Keep your ignition off too, because on many diesels switching it on by itself starts your pump. Thinning it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than mixing — and that's where your fuel is sucked from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle clear of the pump if you're on a forecourt — the Shell, the another forecourt nearby or somewhere else. At home around Harpsden Bottom? Then the car stays where it is.
When your engine has run by now, stop somewhere safe and switch the vehicle off. Come off the A329(M) — under 10 miles out of Harpsden Bottom — at the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Oxford, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Harpsden Bottom.
Harpsden Bottom: what happens when our technicians turn up
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Valley Road School, near Harpsden Hall or on your own drive. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — which fluid, which quantity, and whether it has run — so our engineers ask. No one heads out before you have heard our quote over the phone.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, after your tank is emptied. Unlike petrol, AdBlue forms crystals and attacks certain fuel-system metals, and none of it washes away unaided. That is why it counts more. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. After that our engineers start it and confirm it runs properly before we go.
Unrun vehicles usually need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, take a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Harpsden Bottom itself
Harpsden Bottom is a small hamlet in Oxfordshire, situated in a low-lying area at an elevation of 49 metres. Harpsden Bottom lies near the village of Harpsden and is part of a network of small settlements including Harpsden Heights and Newtown. Harpsden Bottom is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is located approximately 21.6 miles from Oxford and 34.0 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Oxfordshire, Harpsden Bottom included
Harpsden Heights and Newtown are among the towns around Harpsden Bottom, a rural hamlet, that the same teams cover, over RG postcodes. Give a postcode that starts RG9 4, and our van arrives quickest.
Moving your car isn't necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Henley Leisure Centre, a lay-by on the way to Henley Golf Club, a driveway. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Villa at Harpsden? Close to a border? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
The short version for Harpsden Bottom drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it where it is, anywhere across Oxfordshire: switch the car off then call 0333 366 0103.