Why It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Henley-in-Arden
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, keep the ignition and motor off, and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Henley-in-Arden. Here before the event? In that case the rest explains how it happens and how to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to the engine — but many newer diesels seen round Henley-in-Arden and Hallend carry another fluid too. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream to clean it.
Each tank has its own filler. Other cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place the two side by side behind one flap. At the pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less often, usually from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
Henley-in-Arden: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
Hurry follows from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a drive off Beaudesert Lane, or heading home in the car park outside Nags Head.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. 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, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. It takes a few seconds, be it in Beaudesert or right in the centre of Henley-in-Arden.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Henley-in-Arden forecourt or a drive over in Preston Green, take a few seconds on these before anything is poured in.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally are not.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on many cars, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many cars. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler is if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook tells you 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 outside the nearest station.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Wherever in Warwickshire the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of High Street, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two share a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop just there. Never carry on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Henley-in-Arden?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
Ask the staff to help roll the car clear of the pump if you're at a forecourt — the Essar, the JET or somewhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own driveway around Henley-in-Arden.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. Come off the M40 — under 3 miles out of Henley-in-Arden — at the first junction. A short hop across Henley-in-Arden is a smaller job than a run towards Birmingham, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Henley-in-Arden: what happens when we arrive
Our van reaches the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, near Church of Saint John The Baptist, or by Henley-In-Arden CofE Primary School. Our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it's run, since those replies settle this work and our quote. You hear that price on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a full flush of the fuel system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: the crystals form, certain metals corrode, and none of that clears out on its own, no matter how long it is left. Once your filter is cleaned — or replaced, if needed — clean diesel is added, and finally your vehicle is tested. Before leaving, our technicians start the car and confirm that it is running properly.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a live filling station, and quiet enough for a residential street late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Henley-in-Arden
Henley-in-Arden is a small town in Warwickshire, situated on the River Alne at an elevation of 77 metres. Henley-in-Arden has a mix of housing types, with semi-detached homes being predominant, and is located near other local places such as Beaudesert and Kite Green. Henley-in-Arden is close to the city of Birmingham, approximately 13.9 miles away, and is about 88.9 miles from London. Henley-in-Arden remains a quiet riverside community with a population of around 3305 people.
AdBlue drains in Henley-in-Arden and across Warwickshire
As a riverside town, Henley-in-Arden shares its vans surrounding areas — Kite Green, Buckley Green — right across B postcodes and the wider area around them. Quote a postcode beginning B95 5, and the van arrives quickest.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Jubilee Gardens, a side street near Henley Baptist Church: our engineers drain it where it sits. Assuming won't help behind Henley Community Library, close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; phone and ask.
For Henley-in-Arden motorists, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave it off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere around Warwickshire.