Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Lower Ashtead: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page aside a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, if the engine hasn't run, it's drained and thoroughly rinsed where your vehicle is around Lower Ashtead. Here before the event? In that case what follows explains how it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
No single liquid but two: that is how plenty of newer diesels near Lower Ashtead and Pachesham Park carry, with diesel feeding the motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to the exhaust, where a spray treats the gas.
There is a filler for every tank. Other cars put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place the two together behind one flap. At the pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally comes from a bottle, poured by someone who must stop and think which cap it needs. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Lower Ashtead
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a driveway off Glebe Road, or on the way home in the car park at The Woodman.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
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 once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Lower Ashtead or out in Ashtead.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in The Wells or a forecourt in Lower Ashtead, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually are not.
- Plenty of motors give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- In your boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it's not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Whoever had it before knows. Ask when you collect a rental or company car — from Ashtead's car park, say — not when the warning comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
On the day the warning appears — wherever it is around Surrey — a simple routine to follow.
- Stop on level, motor off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Read Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, but it does the trick.
- Both under one flap? Then confirm the cap on the diesel filler stays closed ahead of raising the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check a second time, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Find at the second or third step that the bottle went in the wrong tank? That's where you stop. Never go on to step five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Lower Ashtead?
Short order, then. First: your engine remains unstarted. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition goes on — and so leave it off. Diluting it with extra diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the bottom instead of blending — and that's where the fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Shell, Tesco or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the car away when asked. On your own drive around Lower Ashtead? So the vehicle remains put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the motor has already run. The next exit is where to leave if you are on the M25, under a mile from Lower Ashtead. About how far did it go? Hopping across Lower Ashtead is smaller a job than a run of under 25 miles towards Westminster, and so tell us.
When our engineers arrive in Lower Ashtead, what takes place?
Our van comes to the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Ashtead Baptist Church, or by Barnett Wood Infant School. Which liquid went in, the quantity, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since those replies set both work and quote. The price comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Emptying the tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: crystals form, some metals are attacked, and nothing clears out on its own, however long it sits. Testing is at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed as needed. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
With pumps fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run take about half an hour after we arrive. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — and so use the wait to look at yours.
About Lower Ashtead
Lower Ashtead is a suburban area in Surrey, situated near the River Mole and characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock. Lower Ashtead sits at an elevation of around 54 metres, with nearby Ashtead Common and Leatherhead Common providing green spaces for residents. Lower Ashtead is located approximately 15 miles from central London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Lower Ashtead has a population of around 4514 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains around Lower Ashtead, and Surrey beyond
Ashtead Common and Leatherhead Common are among the towns around Lower Ashtead, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over KT postcodes. Give a postcode that starts KT21 2, and the van arrives quickest.
Shifting the car isn't necessary. Wherever it stands — near St George's Church, Ashtead, in a layby heading to Ashtead Recreation Ground, on a drive — that is where it is cleared. Tricky to explain, like the back of First Ashtead Pelham Scout Group? Close to a border? Asking beats guessing, and so ring.
In short, for Lower Ashtead people
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere around Surrey.