North Hyde: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and the ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. Around North Hyde, catching it before the motor turns usually leaves a drain and a thorough flush where it stands. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it does not.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Not one liquid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels near North Hyde and Southall carry, with diesel feeding your motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up your diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around North Hyde
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
On a driveway off North Hyde Lane before work, or in the car park at Old Oak Tree heading home: that's where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle warns you, and if it's gone, limp mode follows.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old motor — because a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, after begun, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of North Hyde or out in Norwood Green.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A few seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a driveway in Lampton or a forecourt around North Hyde.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps normally do not.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Open the flap and check for a label — plenty of vehicles show what goes in each inlet just there.
- The handbook shows where it is if the filler isn't next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Southall.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
For the day the light appears — anywhere it is across Greater London — a routine to follow.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Raleigh Road.
- Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap works — after you've located the filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Stop when your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Leave out step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in your diesel tank around North Hyde already?
The short order of things, starting with not starting your engine. Keep the ignition off too, since on many diesels it alone starts the pump. Thinning it with extra diesel won't work, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that's where your fuel is drawn from.
On a forecourt — BP, Shell or any other — the attendants will usually help roll the car away, when you ask. At home around North Hyde? So the car stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if the engine has already run. North Hyde lies under a mile from the M4; on it, take the first exit. Mileage matters — a short hop across North Hyde is a smaller job than heading under 15 miles to Westminster — so say about how far it went.
What takes place when our technicians arrive around North Hyde
The van comes to the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside The Dome Badminton Centre, or outside Norwood Green Junior School. What liquid was put in, the quantity, and whether it ran: we ask since the answers set the work and quote. That price is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
After that: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, some metals corrode, and nothing clears away on its own, however long it sits. Filter flushed or, if it must be, swapped; clean diesel in; then a test of your car. After that we fire it up and confirm it runs smoothly before leaving.
Most jobs are finished in roughly half an hour once our engineers arrive, as long as the engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. No money upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About North Hyde and where it is
North Hyde is a suburban area in the western part of Greater London, situated near the River Thames at an elevation of around 34 metres. North Hyde lies approximately 11 miles from central London and is close to nearby places such as Norwood Green, Heston, and Hounslow West. North Hyde is characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock, which reflects the typical residential development of the area. North Hyde has a population of around 11405 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, North Hyde included
As a residential suburb, North Hyde shares its vans nearby places — Heston, Hounslow West — right through UB postcodes and the surrounding area around them. Quote a postcode that starts UB2 5, and the van gets there quickest.
The vehicle stays put. The drain takes place on the spot, be it a drive, a road by Central Jamia Mosque, or a layby towards Airlinks Golf Course. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Sri Guru Amardass Gurdwara, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for North Hyde people
Pour nothing until you've read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the car switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Greater London.