AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Little Britain: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Leave the motor and ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103 first — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. In Little Britain, catching it before your motor runs normally leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Below, the page covers the why it happens and the ways to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels in Cowley, as well as Little Britain, run on two liquids; your motor takes only the diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors have a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes usually fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen in Little Britain?
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and letting it run out leads to limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Packetboat Lane, or at Waters Edge on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where the hand goes — yet a rental car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: a strange car.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, once started, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Little Britain or out in Cowley Peachey.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Be it a Little Britain forecourt or a driveway out in Iver, take a couple of seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Check the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are often blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of motors, the AdBlue one.
- Look inside your fuel flap: many motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is if your filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at West Drayton, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — anywhere it is around Greater London — a routine to use.
- Pull in on level, motor off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Sefton Way.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you've found the filler and read it.
- The diesel cap remains on. Where the two sit under a flap, confirm it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the car, close the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap never opened off.
Find during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Little Britain?
Don't start your engine: that is where the short order of things begins. Keep your ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels it alone starts the pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Shell, Esso or another forecourt will normally help pushing your car clear if you ask. Your own driveway in Little Britain is where it should stay.
Where the engine has run by now, stop somewhere safe and switch the vehicle off. On the M25, under a mile from Little Britain, that means the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Little Britain.
When our engineers arrive in Little Britain, what takes place?
Wherever the car came to rest, whether outside Cowley St Laurence CofE Primary School, beside Cowley Retail Park or at home, our van comes to it. What liquid got in, the quantity, and whether it ran: we ask since those answers decide the work and quote. Nobody sets off before you have had the price over the phone.
Then that tank is emptied and the fuel system purged thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears out by itself. That is why it matters more. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. We don't go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Most jobs are finished in about half an hour once our technicians get there, provided your motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Little Britain and where it is
Little Britain is a suburban area in Greater London, situated near lakes and waterways at an elevation of around 26 metres. Little Britain lies approximately 15 miles from central London and is close to nearby places such as Cowley Peachey and Yiewsley. Little Britain has a population of around 3217 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing.
AdBlue drains about Little Britain, and Greater London beyond
Being a residential suburb, Little Britain shares its vans nearby areas — Cowley Peachy, Yiewsley — right across UB postcodes and the wider area around them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting UB8 2.
No need to shift your car. The drain happens on the spot, whether a driveway, a road near Endeavour Sea Scouts Group, or a lay-by towards Cowley Recreation Ground. Assuming doesn't help behind Al Falah Islamic Education Centre, on a border, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
Little Britain people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — and so leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103.