AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pixham: Why It Happens and How to Stop It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down for now, leave the ignition and motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. In Pixham, catching it before your motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush on the spot. Here in advance? In that case what follows explains why it happens and how to prevent it ever happening.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads around Pixham and Westhumble carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue goes to the 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, next to each other: that's the arrangement on a lot of cars. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler is beneath the bonnet or in the boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the pump happens all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place around Pixham?
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from your car, and letting it run out means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Pixholme Grove, perhaps outside The Lincoln Arms on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: a strange vehicle.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip after it has started. Whether it happens in Deepdene or the middle of Pixham, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Whether a Pixham forecourt or a drive over in Tower Hill, take a couple of seconds over these before any goes in.
- Check the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't.
- On plenty of cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel filler? In that case look below the bonnet or inside your boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Dorking.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever across Surrey that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Pixham Lane, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off properly.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after you find the AdBlue filler and reading it. Daft, perhaps, but it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Slowly is best, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Only then, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Find during the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Never carry on to step five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in Pixham?
Brief order, then. Top of it: the motor stays off. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the vehicle on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is pulled from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — Esso, BP or any other — the attendants will usually help push the car clear, if you ask. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around Pixham.
Where the engine has been run already, stop safely and turn the car off. On the M25, under 5 miles from Pixham, that means the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Pixham.
When we turn up in Pixham, what happens?
The van comes to the car anywhere it stopped — your own drive, beside Saint Mary the Virgin, or outside St Martin's CofE Primary School. Our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if it has run, because the replies determine this work and our price. You hear that quote by phone, before anyone sets off.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the system. 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 the flush counts more here than with petrol. After your filter is flushed — or renewed, where needed — clean diesel goes in, and then the car is tested. The engine is started next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers head off.
If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. At the end, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for your insurer. It is worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Pixham, for a moment
Pixham is a suburban area in Surrey, situated on the riverside with an elevation of 49 metres. Pixham lies approximately 20 miles south-west of central London, near the towns of Dorking and Deepdene. Pixham has a population of around 1161 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Pixham is also close to Rose Hill, another nearby suburban area.
Pixham and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
Dorking and Rose Hill are among the places around Pixham, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, throughout RH postcodes. A postcode starting RH4 1 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving the vehicle isn't needed. Anywhere it stands — beside The Dorking Cockerel, in a layby heading to Dorking Cricket Club, on a drive — that is where it is cleared. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Pippbrook House, ring and ask instead of assuming.
In short, for Pixham drivers
Tip nothing till you've read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep the car switched off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Surrey.