Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hensington: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Hensington. The rest of this page explains why it takes place and how to ensure it does not — handy if you're reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
No single fluid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels near Hensington and Bunkers Hill run, with diesel feeding your engine. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue goes: sprayed into the fumes to clean them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Many of cars share a single flap for the two, while others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in at every forecourt visit, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less frequently, normally from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. It is in the gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs in Hensington
It's rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Hensington Close before work, or in the car park at The Punchbowl on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and if it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
New-to-you motors are next, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company cars place their fillers differently, and the hand 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. Woodstock or the middle of Hensington: it is the same few seconds in both.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Hensington forecourt or a drive over in Bladon, spend a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally don't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it lives when the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Whoever had it before will know. Check when you pick up a hire car or fleet car — at Hanborough's car park, perhaps — rather than when the warning comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
On the day the warning appears — wherever it is in Oxfordshire — a simple routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Verinia Court.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud while you unscrew the cap works — after you have located the filler and read it.
- Both under one flap? So confirm the lid on the diesel side stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? Then stop right there. Leave out step five entirely.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hensington?
Short order, then. Top of it: your engine stays off. Do not switch your ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of your tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Gulf, the Shell or anywhere else. At home around Hensington? So the vehicle stays put.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then turn off. Leave the M40 — under 10 miles out of Hensington — at the first junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Oxford, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Hensington.
Our arrival around Hensington, and what happens next
The van reaches your car wherever it stopped — your own drive, beside St Hugh of Lincoln, or outside Woodstock Church of England Primary School. What fluid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: we ask since the replies set the work and quote. On the phone call itself, you hear our quote — ahead of anything else.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire system. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own. Once the fuel filter has been flushed — or replaced, where required — fresh diesel goes in, and finally your car is tested. We do not go until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About Hensington, for a moment
Hensington is a suburban area located on the riverside in Oxfordshire, with a mix of detached housing and a population of around 2224 residents. Hensington sits at an elevation of 94 metres, close to the historic town of Woodstock and the nearby city of Oxford, which is approximately 7.7 miles away. Hensington is also within commuting distance to London, being around 57.2 miles from the capital. Hensington benefits from its scenic riverside setting, with the River Glyme and other waterways nearby.
AdBlue drains round Hensington, and Oxfordshire beyond
As a residential suburb, Hensington shares its vans nearby areas — Old Woodstock, Campsfield — all the way across OX postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting OX20 1 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting the car is not needed. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to AD 2000 Millenium, a lay-by on the way to Old Woodstock Line Nature Reserve, a drive. Guessing doesn't help behind Woodstock Baptist Church, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
In short, for Hensington drivers
Before you pour, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Oxfordshire, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — and so leave the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.