Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in North Holmwood
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page aside for now, keep your ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around North Holmwood. Reading before the event? In that case what follows covers why it happens and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers
Not one liquid but two: that's what many modern diesels around North Holmwood and Tower Hill run, with diesel feeding your engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to your exhaust, where a spray treats the gas.
Different tanks, separate fillers. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel gets filled on each filling station call-out, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
North Holmwood: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Lodge Close before work, or in the car park at Royal Oak on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and once it's gone, limp mode follows.
Then your car is new. A hire car, a new car 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.
Lastly, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in as readily, and after the pour begins, no part stops it. Whether it happens in Stonebridge or the middle of North Holmwood, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a North Holmwood forecourt or a driveway out in Rose Hill, take a couple of seconds on these before any goes in.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones normally aren't.
- On plenty of vehicles, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that's where the filler sits if it is not by the diesel cap, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Dorking West? Check with the person who drove the car last before you set off, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
When the light comes on, wherever in Surrey, follow this routine.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Willow Green.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both sit under a flap, make sure 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 vehicle, close the cap and check again that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Discover during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel filler? That's where you stop. Don't carry on to step five.
North Holmwood: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Don't start the engine: that's where the short order of things begins. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so don't switch the car on. Diluting it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue sinks to the base instead of blending — and that's where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help roll the car away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the BP, the Esso or somewhere else. Your own drive around North Holmwood is the place it stays.
Already run? Stop once it's safe, then switch off. On the M25, under 10 miles from North Holmwood, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across North Holmwood is smaller work than a run of under 25 miles to Westminster, and so tell us.
What happens when our engineers turn up in North Holmwood
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside St John's Church of England Primary School, close to St John the Evangelist or on your own drive. What liquid went in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask since the answers decide the work and quote. No one heads out until you've had our quote by phone.
Then your tank is drained and the fuel system flushed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. We don't leave until it has been started and is running smoothly.
Unstarted vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a busy forecourt, and hushed enough for a driveway late at night. The insurer usually wants an engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours at the end. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. It's worth checking your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies.
About North Holmwood, briefly
North Holmwood is a suburban area in Surrey, situated near the riverside and surrounded by nearby places such as Stonebridge and Mid Holmwood. North Holmwood sits at an elevation of 86 metres, approximately 22 miles south of London, and features predominantly terraced housing. North Holmwood is a relatively small community, with a population of around 2660 residents, and is located near other local areas like Blackbrook.
AdBlue drains across Surrey, North Holmwood included
North Holmwood is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the places around it, Mid Holmwood and Blackbrook among them, across the RH postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a RH5 4 postcode to our van.
Shifting your car isn't needed. The drain happens right there, be it a driveway, a road near North Holmwood Village Hall, or a layby on the way to Inholms Lane Clay Pit Nature Reserve. Awkward to pin down, like the back of North Holmwood Sports Club? Close to a border? Asking beats guessing, so ring.
In short, for North Holmwood drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the vehicle off then call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere around Surrey.