Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Northolt
Pause reading for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where the car stands in Northolt, is usually what it takes if caught before your motor runs. Reading in advance? In that case what follows covers why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many newer diesels around Greenford, like those in Northolt, carry on two liquids; the motor gets only your diesel. AdBlue goes to your exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
There's a filler for each tank. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on many vehicles. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. It is in the gap that the mistake lives.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Northolt: how it happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts it into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a drive off Mandeville Road, or heading home in the car park at The Crown.
Then the vehicle is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand gets to 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 pour after it has started. South Harrow or the middle of Northolt: it is the same few seconds either way.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Roxeth or a forecourt around Northolt, check these. They take a couple of 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.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by the diesel cap, it is in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Ask 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 outside Northolt Park.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Anywhere in Greater London the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Moat Farm Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Both behind one flap? So make sure the cap on your diesel filler is still closed before lifting the bottle.
- Finish once your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, pour gently through the built-in spout.
- Before starting the vehicle, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap never came off.
Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel filler? That is where you stop. Leave out stage five entirely.
Northolt: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Do not start your motor: that is where the short order of things starts. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at BP, Asda or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push the vehicle away if asked. On your own drive around Northolt? Then your car remains where it is.
Where the engine has run by now, stop safely and switch it off. The next junction is where to leave if you are on the M4, under 5 miles from Northolt. A short hop across Northolt is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 15 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
Northolt: what occurs when we get there
Our technicians come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Willow Tree Primary School, close to St Bernard's Catholic church or on your own driveway. Our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether it has run, because those answers settle the work and our price. Nobody sets off before you've heard the quote by phone.
The fuel system is then cleaned thoroughly, once your tank is cleared. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that counts more here than with petrol. Testing is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is flushed or changed if necessary. Before we leave, our technicians start it and check that it's running properly.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Northolt itself
Northolt is a locality in northwest London, situated near the River Brent and the Grand Union Canal. Northolt sits at an elevation of 42 metres, approximately 10.8 miles from central London, and is surrounded by other suburban areas such as South Harrow and South Ruislip. Northolt has a population of around 4601 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Northolt is also close to nearby Yeading, with Westminster about 11 miles away.
Northolt and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
As a small village, Northolt shares its vans surrounding places — South Ruislip, Yeading — right through UB postcodes and the wider area beyond. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting UB5 5.
Moving the vehicle isn't necessary. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Mandeville Green, a side street near Clock Tower: we drain it where it sits. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Northolt Village Community Centre, ring and ask rather than guessing.
For Northolt people, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it waits, anywhere in Greater London.