How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Langley Vale
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. In Langley Vale, finding it before your engine runs usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Not one fluid but two: that is what many newer diesels around Langley Vale and Ashtead carry, with diesel feeding your engine. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others have the two side by side under one flap. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
Langley Vale: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things coming up together.
Hurry comes from the warning. The car warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Harding Road, or on the way home in the car park outside Rubbing House.
New-to-you vehicles come second, as well. Hire cars, new motors and company vehicles put their fillers differently, and the hand goes for the cap used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after started, carries on. Whether it takes place in Woodcote or the middle of Langley Vale, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Langley Vale or a driveway over in Tadworth. Seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- Many cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Many vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows where it is if your filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The previous driver will know. Check as you pick up a rental or company car — from Tattenham Corner's car park, say — rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever around Surrey the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, motor stopped, and not rushed by Beaconsfield Road on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Finish when the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip gently using the own spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Skip step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Langley Vale?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the vehicle on. Diluting it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of blending — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
On a forecourt — Texaco, Shell or another — the attendants will normally help roll the vehicle away, if you ask. If you are on your own drive around Langley Vale, leave the vehicle where it is.
Already started? Pull over once it is sensible, then turn off. On the M25, under 3 miles from Langley Vale, that means the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Westminster, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Langley Vale.
When our technicians turn up in Langley Vale, what occurs?
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside The Vale Primary School and Nursery, near St Stephen On The Downs or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it's run, since those answers decide the work and our price. No one sets off until you have heard the quote over the phone.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, once the tank is drained. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: the crystals build up, some metals are attacked, and none of that washes out unaided, no matter how long it is left. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running properly.
If your engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About Langley Vale, briefly
Langley Vale is a village in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of 109 metres, approximately 15 miles south of central London. Langley Vale is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and is surrounded by nearby places such as Woodcote and Great Burgh. Langley Vale has a population of around 1515 residents and is close to the notable Epsom Downs. Langley Vale remains a residential community with a rural feel, despite its proximity to the capital city.
Langley Vale and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
Great Burgh and Epsom Downs are among the towns near Langley Vale, a rural village, that the same vans cover, throughout KT postcodes. Fastest of all: give a KT18 6 postcode for the van.
Your car remains where it is. Draining takes place on the spot, whether a drive, a street by Langley Vale Village Hall, or a layby on the way to Coronation Course. Guessing won't help at the back of Witness, on a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down; phone and check.
For Langley Vale motorists, the short version
First, the cap; then, the pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around Surrey, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103.