AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Park Langley: How It Occurs and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. In Park Langley, finding it before the motor runs usually leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to ensure it doesn't — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel vehicle need its own filler?
Diesel feeds the motor — but plenty of newer diesels driven about Park Langley and Beckenham carry a second liquid too. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying cleans the fumes.
Every tank has a filler of its own. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. The AdBlue side is topped up far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and usually by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place around Park Langley?
It's hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a drive off Brabourne Rise before work, or in the car park outside The Railway on the way home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and once it is gone, limp mode kicks in.
Then your car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it slides in as easily, and once the tip starts, nothing stops it. It's seconds, be it out in Eden Park or bang in the centre of Park Langley.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Park Langley forecourt or a drive out in West Wickham, take a few seconds over these before any is poured in.
- Where it sits misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue ones tend to be blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not.
- The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- Can't find it next to the diesel filler? In that case check below the bonnet or inside your boot — the handbook will say where.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Eden Park? Ask the person who drove the vehicle last before leaving, rather than when the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — wherever you are across Greater London — a simple routine to use.
- Not in a rush on the side of Wickham Way, not on a slope, not with your motor running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before starting the vehicle, shut the cap and look a second time that the diesel cap was never opened off.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Don't go on to step five.
Park Langley: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Short list, then. Top of that: the motor stays off. The fuel pump starts on many diesels as soon as your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Esso, Shell or another forecourt will usually help pushing the vehicle away if you ask. At home in Park Langley? Then your car remains put.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Park Langley lies under 10 miles from the M25; there, take the first exit. A short hop across Park Langley is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 10 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
Our arrival in Park Langley, and what happens next
Anywhere your car has stopped, whether outside Unicorn Primary School, beside The Park Langley Club or at home, our van travels to it. Those answers settle this work and the quote, and so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. No one heads out until you have had our quote over the phone.
Next: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire 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 matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and the fuel filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Then our technicians fire it up and make sure it runs properly before we go.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, as long as the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. The insurer will ask for the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no deposit. Misfuelling cover is included in many insurance policies — and so use the wait to check yours.
About Park Langley, for a moment
Park Langley is a suburban area in the London Borough of Bromley, situated near the border with Lewisham, and is characterised by its riverside setting and relatively low elevation of 52 metres. Park Langley is located approximately 9.4 miles from central London and is close to nearby places such as Eden Park and Upper Elmers End. Park Langley has a population of around 3660 people and is predominantly composed of detached housing.
AdBlue drains round Park Langley, and Greater London beyond
Being a residential suburb, Park Langley has the same vans as surrounding areas — Upper Elmers End, Shortlands — right through BR postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. A postcode starting BR3 3 gets the van to you fastest.
No need to move your car. Anywhere it stands — beside Langley Park Sports & Social Club, on a lay-by en route to Old Dunstonians sports club, at home — that's where it gets emptied. Awkward to explain, like the back of Shortlands Library? By a county line? Asking is better than assuming, and so ring.
For Park Langley motorists, the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, anywhere in Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — so leave the vehicle off then ring 0333 366 0103.