AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Holland Park: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Around Holland Park, catching it before the motor runs usually means draining and a full flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the reasons it occurs and the ways to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Diesel feeds the engine — but plenty of modern diesels driven around Holland Park and Earls Court carry a second fluid as well. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the gas to fresh it, from its own tank.
There is a filler on each tank. Many of vehicles have a single flap for the two, while some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on each filling station visit, again and again. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in the gap between the two.
Holland Park: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
On a drive off Abbotsbury Close before work, or in the car park at The Castle heading home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and once it is empty, limp mode kicks in.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old vehicle — because a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one did not.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once begun, carries on. Whether it occurs in Kensington or the middle of Holland Park, it's the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Brook Green or a forecourt around Holland Park, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where your filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Kensington Olympia.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever around Greater London, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Sheldrake Place, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when your tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently through the built-in spout.
- Close the cap, then look once more — making sure your diesel cap remained shut throughout. Only then, start your car.
Discover at the second or third step that the bottle went in the wrong filler? That's where you stop. Stage five is out.
Holland Park: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with not starting the engine. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll your car away from the petrol pump if you're on a forecourt — the Eco, the BP or somewhere else. If you are on your own driveway around Holland Park, leave the car where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. Leave the M4 — under 5 miles out of Holland Park — at the first exit. Mileage matters — a short hop across Holland Park makes a smaller job than heading under 5 miles towards Westminster — so say about how far it went.
Holland Park: what takes place when our technicians get there
The van comes to your car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, near Kyoto Garden, or outside St Barnabas and St Philip's CofE Primary School. Which fluid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since those replies set both work and quote. Nobody sets off until you've had our quote by phone.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Much more than with petrol, it matters with AdBlue: crystals build up, certain metals are attacked, and none of that washes away unaided, however long it sits. Once the fuel filter has been cleaned — or renewed, where required — fresh diesel is added, and then your car gets tested. Before leaving, our technicians start the engine and make sure that it's running properly.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are fine on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents an insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — so use the wait to look at yours.
About Holland Park, briefly
Holland Park is a suburban area in west London, situated approximately 3.3 miles from Westminster and close to neighbouring areas such as Kensington and Notting Hill. Holland Park sits at an elevation of around 33 metres, with its predominant housing stock consisting of flats. Holland Park is bounded by other residential districts, including West Kensington, and is home to around 14,660 people.
AdBlue drains in Holland Park and across Greater London
Holland Park is a residential suburb, and the vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Notting Hill and West Kensington among them, across the W postcode area. Give a postcode that starts W8 6, and the van arrives fastest.
Moving your car isn't necessary. Draining happens right there, be it a drive, a street by Annunciation, or a layby towards the green space at the edge of the village. If you're near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Opera Holland Park, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The short version for Holland Park drivers
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, across Greater London.