AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Mottingham: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off and ring 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out right where the car stands in Mottingham, is normally what it takes if found before the engine runs. Not happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it occurs and the ways to avoid it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads round Mottingham and Middle Park carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Your exhaust, not the motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the fumes to fresh them, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on every tank. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every forecourt visit, again and again. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side is filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
Mottingham: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Carelessness rarely causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
Hurry comes from the warning. Your 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 Harting Road, or heading home in the car park outside The Bat and Ball.
New-to-you vehicles come second, as well. Hire cars, new vehicles and company motors place their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap used on the old one.
Lastly, the bottle goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as readily, and once the tip starts, nothing halts it. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Mottingham or out in Chinbrook.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in New Eltham or a forecourt around Mottingham, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally is not. Read it instead of going by position.
- On plenty of cars, the size tells: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- Check inside the fuel flap: many motors carry a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to your diesel inlet? Then look beneath the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook says where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside the nearest station? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, not when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
For the day the warning appears — wherever you are in Greater London — a routine to follow.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Court Farm Road.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, yes, yet it works.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never carry on to step five.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Mottingham already?
Brief list, then. Top of that: the motor stays off. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it by itself runs your fuel pump. Thinning it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue sinks to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
At a forecourt — BP, Shell or another — the attendants will usually help push the vehicle clear, if you ask. If you are on your own driveway around Mottingham, leave the vehicle where it is.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. On the M20, under 10 miles from Mottingham, that means the next exit. Distance counts — a quick hop across Mottingham makes a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to London — so say roughly how far it went.
What occurs when our engineers arrive in Mottingham
Anywhere your car came to rest, whether outside St Vincent's Catholic Primary School, beside Mottingham Community Centre or at home, our van travels to it. What fluid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: we ask since the replies decide the work and quote. During the phone call itself, you are told our quote — before dispatch.
The fuel system is then flushed thoroughly, after that tank is cleared. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and attacks some fuel-system metals, and none of it washes away by itself. That is why it counts more. Once the filter has been flushed — or renewed, if needed — clean diesel goes in, and finally the vehicle is tested. The engine is fired up next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before we head off.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we get there, provided the engine has not run — and the pumps we use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It is worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Mottingham, briefly
Mottingham is a suburban area in southeast London, situated near the River Ravensbourne at an elevation of around 57 metres. Mottingham lies approximately 9 miles from central London and is bordered by nearby places such as Chinbrook, Grove Park, and Elmstead. Mottingham has a population of around 10235 people and is predominantly composed of terraced housing. Mottingham is characterized by its residential streets and local amenities.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, Mottingham included
Grove Park and Elmstead are among the places around Mottingham, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout SE postcodes. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting SE9 4.
Your car does not need to shift. Wherever it stands — beside Geffery's Hall Community Centre, on a layby en route to Lower Marvels Wood, on a drive — that's where it is emptied. Tricky to pin down, like the back of St Edward? By a county line? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
Mottingham drivers: the short version
Pour nothing till you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere in Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway — and so leave it off and phone 0333 366 0103.