Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Merton: Why It Occurs
Leave the engine and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 first — the rest can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. A drain plus a full flush, done right where your vehicle stands around Merton, is usually what it needs if found before the motor runs. Reading before the event? In that case the rest covers why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Many newer diesels in Tooting Graveney, as well as Merton, carry on two liquids; the engine gets just the diesel. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to clean it, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of cars share a single flap for both, while others move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Merton: how it takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a drive off Merantun Way before work, or in the car park at The Merton Apprentice heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it's gone, limp mode kicks in.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new motor or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's the second factor: a new car.
A spout-topped bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the tip, after started, carries on. It takes seconds, be it in Colliers Wood or bang in the centre of Merton.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
A few seconds is all these take — so check them before you pour anything, on a drive in Morden or a forecourt in Merton.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Check for it.
- The handbook shows which it lives if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the vehicle last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park at Haydons Road, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
When the light goes on, wherever in Greater London, follow this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of A24, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off first.
- Daft as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew the cap works — after you have located the filler and read the cap.
- Both behind a single flap? Then make sure the cap on your diesel filler stays closed before raising the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Leave out stage five altogether.
Merton: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The short order of things, starting with not starting your engine. Do not switch the ignition on; on many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Don't top up with diesel to dilute it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the Sainsbury's or the Shell, ask the attendants to help push your car away from the petrol pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Merton.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your engine has already run. Come off the M4 — under 10 miles out of Merton — at the next exit. Mileage matters — a short hop across Merton is a smaller job than driving under 10 miles to Westminster — so say about how far it went.
Merton: what takes place when our engineers turn up
Anywhere the car has stopped, be it by Merton Abbey Primary School, beside Colour House Theatre or at home, our van comes to it. Those answers decide this work and our quote, and so our engineers ask what got in, roughly how much, and if it has run. During the call itself, you hear the quote — before anything else.
Draining your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. After the filter is cleaned — or renewed, if required — fresh diesel is added, and finally your car gets tested. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running properly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our engineers arrive, provided your engine hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Wrong-fuel cover is part of many insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About Merton and where it is
Merton is a locality in south London, situated on the River Wandle and close to the suburbs of Colliers Wood and South Wimbledon. Merton sits at a low elevation of around 15 metres, with many of its residents living in flat dwellings. Merton is part of the wider London urban area, with Westminster and central London within easy reach. Merton borders Merton Park to the east, and is connected to the surrounding area by a network of roads and public transport links.
AdBlue drains around Merton, and Greater London beyond
South Wimbledon and Merton Park are among the places around Merton, a small village, that the same teams cover, throughout SW postcodes. Fastest of all: give a SW19 2 postcode to our van.
Your car does not need to shift. Our technicians drain it where it is — a side street close to Merton Abbey Mills, a lay-by on the way to The Paul Bowness Memorial Gardens, a driveway. Tricky to pin down, like the back of Merton Priory Chapter House Museum? By a border? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
In short, for Merton drivers
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the vehicle switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Greater London.