Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pinner
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, keep your ignition and engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done right where the vehicle stands in Pinner, is usually what it needs if caught before the motor runs. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it does not.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
Plenty of modern diesels in North Harrow, as well as Pinner, run on two fluids; the motor gets just your diesel. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, and there a spray treats the gas.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Many of cars have a single flap for the two, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Filling your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Seldom topped up, AdBlue usually goes in out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think what cap it needs. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place in Pinner
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Bridge Street before work, or in the car park outside Beer Asylum on the way home.
The old car's cap is where your hand reaches — but a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's a second thing: an unfamiliar motor.
Lastly, the bottle fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as easily, and once the tip begins, nothing stops it. It's seconds, be it out in Pinnerwood Park or right in the centre of Pinner.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A couple of seconds is all the checks take — so run through them before you tip anything, on a drive in Eastcote or a forecourt in Pinner.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually are not.
- Look at the size: the smaller neck is, on many motors, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the flap and look for a label — plenty of vehicles mark what belongs in each filler right there.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you pick up a hire car or company car — at Hatch End's car park, say — not once the warning appears.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
Wherever around Greater London the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, motor stopped, and not rushed beside High Street on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Gently is best, through the bottle's own spout, until it's full or the bottle runs out.
- Only then, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Don't go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Pinner?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting the engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
The staff at Shell, Esso or any forecourt will usually lend a hand pushing the car away when you ask. Your own drive around Pinner is where it should stay.
Already started? Stop once it's safe, then switch off. On the M1, under 5 miles from Pinner, that means the next exit. Mileage counts — a quick hop across Pinner is a smaller job than heading under 15 miles towards St Albans — so say about how far it went.
When our technicians get there around Pinner, what takes place?
Wherever the car came to rest, whether by West Lodge Primary School, near Pinner Village Hall or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Both the work and our quote rest on three answers — what fluid, what amount, and whether it's run — so we ask. During the phone call itself, you hear our price — ahead of dispatch.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, once the tank is cleared. 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 that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. A test comes last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or changed as needed. Before we leave, our engineers fire it up and make sure that it's running correctly.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit from arrival. The equipment is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment is on the day, with no money upfront. While we travel, have a look at your insurance documents; many carry cover for misfuelling.
About Pinner itself
Pinner is a locality in northwest London, situated on the banks of the River Pinn at an elevation of around 52 metres. Pinner is characterized by its predominantly flat housing stock, with many residential buildings in the area. Pinner is close to several nearby places, including Pinnerwood Park and Headstone, and is approximately 12.5 miles from central London. Pinner has a population of around 2554 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains in Pinner and across Greater London
Being a small village, Pinner shares its vans surrounding places — Headstone, Pinner Green — all the way across HA postcodes and the wider area around them. Give a postcode that starts HA5 5, and our van arrives fastest.
Your car remains where it is. Anywhere it stands — beside Pinner Centre, on a layby heading to Pinner Memorial Park, on a drive — that is where it gets cleared. Awkward to explain, like the back of Saint Luke? By a county line? Checking is better than assuming, and so ring.
Pinner people: the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it stands, wherever in Greater London: switch the car off and call 0333 366 0103.