Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Harrow: Why It Occurs
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page down for now, keep your ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Harrow. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of modern diesels around Greenhill, as well as Harrow, carry on two fluids; the engine gets only the diesel. The exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to clean them, from a separate tank.
Different tanks, different fillers. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the pump goes on constantly. Rarely filled, AdBlue usually goes in from a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think which filler it needs. The slip lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen in Harrow?
Carelessness rarely explains it. What does is three things lining up together.
On a driveway off Waldron Road before work, or in the car park outside The Castle on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
New-to-you vehicles are next, too. Rentals, new cars and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and habit reaches 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. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Harrow or out in Harrow on the Hill.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
A few seconds is all the checks take — so check them before you tip anything, on a drive in Sudbury or a forecourt in Harrow.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the filler flap and look for a label — many cars mark what belongs in each inlet right there.
- The handbook says where it lives when the filler is not next to your 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 Harrow-on-the-Hill, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
The day the light comes on, wherever across Greater London, follow this routine.
- Switch off once parked — flat ground, engine off, and not in a rush beside Byron Hill Road at the roadside.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two share a flap, make sure it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Finish when that tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently through its built-in spout.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Step five is out.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Harrow?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the attendants to help roll the car away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Shell, the BP or anywhere else. Your own driveway around Harrow is the place it should stay.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. On the M1, under 5 miles from Harrow, that means the next exit. A short hop across Harrow is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 15 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
When our technicians arrive in Harrow, what takes place?
Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Roxeth Primary School, close to The Ryan Theatre or on your own driveway. The replies settle the work and our price, so we ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run. No one heads out before you have heard our quote over the phone.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system rinsed thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out by itself. That is why it counts more. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Before we go, our technicians start it and confirm that it's running correctly.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Harrow, briefly
Harrow is a locality in northwest London, situated approximately 10 miles from central London and 114 metres above sea level. Harrow is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and is surrounded by nearby places such as Harrow on the Hill, Roxeth, and West Harrow. Harrow has a population of around 3896 residents and is located near the city of Westminster, which is about 10.4 miles away.
Harrow and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout HA postcodes, our vans that cover Harrow — a small village — work the nearby places too, West Harrow and Roxeth among them. Quickest of all: give a HA1 3 postcode to our van.
Your car doesn't need to shift. Anywhere it stands — near Harrow - Great War, in a lay-by heading to The Green, on a drive — that is where it is emptied. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you're close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of 'favourite spot' - Lord Byron.
Harrow drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway — so leave it off then phone 0333 366 0103.