Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Meath Green: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, keep your ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Meath Green. Here before the event? Then the rest explains how it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels on the roads about Meath Green and Salfords carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to clean it, from its own tank.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the petrol pump all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in that gap that the slip happens.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank happen around Meath Green?
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off Meath Green Lane before work, or in the car park outside The Bull on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car tells you, and if it is gone, limp mode follows.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have 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, and so nothing stops the tip once it has started. Whether it takes place in Horley or the middle of Meath Green, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Look at these first, at a forecourt in Meath Green or a drive out in Sidlow. Seconds, no more.
- Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the name "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- Open the flap and look for a label — many motors mark which belongs in each filler right there.
- Cannot see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case look below the bonnet or inside your boot — 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 at Horley.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere in Surrey the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Greenfields Road.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've found your filler and read it.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Don't carry on to stage five.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Meath Green already?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Diluting it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than blending — and that is where the fuel is sucked from.
The attendants at Sainsbury's, Shell or another forecourt will usually help to push the car clear if you ask. If you're on your own driveway around Meath Green, leave it where it sits.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. Meath Green sits under 3 miles from the M23; on it, take the first exit. About how far did it go? Hopping across Meath Green is less a job than a trip of under 25 miles to Westminster, and so tell us.
What takes place when our technicians arrive in Meath Green
Our van comes to your car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, near Lee Street Church, or by Meath Green Junior School. Both the work and our price depend on three answers — which fluid, which quantity, and if it's run — so we ask. During the call itself, you are told our quote — ahead of dispatch.
The system is then rinsed thoroughly, after your tank is drained. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it clears away by itself. Hence it counts more. Testing comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Before leaving, we start the engine and make sure that it is running smoothly.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. Your insurer will ask for the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, have a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About Meath Green itself
Meath Green is a suburban area in Surrey, situated near the riverside and surrounded by nearby places such as Horley, Hookwood, and Povey Cross. Meath Green has a population of approximately 7258 residents and is characterized by predominantly semi-detached housing. Meath Green sits at an elevation of 55 metres, within the South East region of England, and is located about 22.6 miles from London. Meath Green is also close to the city of Westminster, which is about 22.1 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Meath Green, and Surrey beyond
Over RH postcodes, our teams that cover Meath Green — a residential suburb — work the nearby locations too, Povey Cross and Hookwood among them. A postcode starting RH6 8 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving the vehicle is not needed. Wherever it sits — near St Wilfrid's Church, in a layby heading to small playground, on a drive — that is where it is emptied. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Horley Leisure Centre, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Meath Green drivers, the short version
Before you pour, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank regardless, leave the car off and ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it sits, anywhere in Surrey.