AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Haslemere: Why It Occurs and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, leave your ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Haslemere, catching it before the motor runs normally means a drain and a full flush on the spot. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel feeds your engine — yet many current diesels driven around Haslemere and Grayswood hold a second liquid as well. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Many of cars share a single flap for both, while others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the pump happens all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
Haslemere: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off High Street before work, or in the car park at The Swan Inn heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode follows.
Next, the hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old vehicle — since a rental car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, carries on. Whether it takes place in Shepherds Hill or the middle of Haslemere, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt in Haslemere or a drive over in Critchmere. A few seconds, that's all.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it lives when your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside the nearest station? Ask whoever drove it last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — anywhere you are across Surrey — a routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of A286.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It seems daft. It works.
- Both under a single flap? Then confirm the lid on the diesel filler is still closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Haslemere already?
Don't start your motor: that's how the short order of things begins. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the Asda Express or the Arnolds Garage, ask the attendants to help push the car away from the petrol pump. On your own drive in Haslemere? So the vehicle stays put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Leave the M3 — under 25 miles out of Haslemere — at the first junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Chichester, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Haslemere.
When our engineers arrive in Haslemere, what happens?
Outside St Bartholomew's CofE Aided Primary School, near Haslemere Town Hall or on your own drive: wherever your car has stopped, our engineers come to it. We ask what got in, about how much, and if it's run, since the answers decide this work and the price. You get that price by phone, before anybody sets off.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and neither clears out by itself. That is why it matters more. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Next our engineers start the engine and make sure it runs smoothly before leaving.
If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. The insurer will ask for an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Haslemere, briefly
Haslemere is a town in Surrey, situated in the South East of England, approximately 38 miles from London. Haslemere sits at an elevation of around 155 metres, near the borders of West Sussex and Hampshire, with nearby areas including Shepherds Hill, Almshouse Common, and Camelsdale. Haslemere has a population of around 7461 people, predominantly living in detached housing, and is located near the city of Chichester, which is about 17 miles away.
Haslemere and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
As a town, Haslemere has the same vans as surrounding areas — Almshouse Common, Camelsdale — right through GU postcodes and the wider area beyond. A postcode starting GU27 2 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to move your car. Wherever it stands — beside Haslemere War Memorial, on a lay-by en route to Haslemere Recreation Ground, on a drive — that's where it gets cleared. Tricky to explain, like the back of The Weaving House? By a border? Checking is better than assuming, so ring.
For Haslemere drivers, the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you've read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it wherever it is, anywhere across Surrey: keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103.