AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ripley Springs: How It Happens and How to Avoid It
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and the ignition off and call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Ripley Springs. 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 doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Diesel feeds the motor — yet plenty of modern diesels seen about Ripley Springs and Thorpe Lea carry another fluid too. Your exhaust, not the engine, is where AdBlue goes: dosed into the gas to clean them, from its own tank.
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. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on all the time. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. That gap is where the mistake lives.
Ripley Springs: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Lynwood Avenue before work, or in the car park at The Foresters Arms on the way home.
Then, the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one didn't.
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 tip once it has started. It's a few seconds, whether in Royal Holloway or right in the heart of Ripley Springs.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Runnymede or a forecourt in Ripley Springs, check these. They take a few seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many motors. Check for it.
- The handbook shows which it lives if the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Egham? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than once the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
For the day the light comes on — wherever it is around Surrey — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Clarence Street, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off first.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look again that your diesel cap never opened off.
Find at the second or third stage that the bottle went into the diesel tank? That's where you stop. Step five is out.
Ripley Springs: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the bottom of that tank, just where fuel is drawn from.
If you're on a forecourt, whether it is the BP or the Texaco, ask the attendants to help roll the car away from the petrol pump. At home around Ripley Springs? Then your car stays where it is.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. The next junction is the place to come off when you are on the M25, under a mile from Ripley Springs. A short hop across Ripley Springs is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When our technicians get there around Ripley Springs, what happens?
We come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Manorcroft Primary School, close to Senate House Depository Library or on your own drive. Our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and if it has run, since the replies determine this work and our price. During the phone call itself, you hear our quote — before dispatch.
The system is then cleaned thoroughly, once the tank is emptied. More than with petrol, it matters here: crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and none of it clears away on its own, no matter how long it sits. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Next our technicians start the car and check it runs smoothly before we go.
Unstarted cars mostly need a half-hour visit from the moment we arrive. The kit is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a driveway after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Ripley Springs and where it is
Ripley Springs is a suburban area in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of 18 metres, approximately 19 miles from London. Ripley Springs is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock, which dominates the local landscape. Ripley Springs is close to several nearby places, including Royal Holloway, Egham, and Englefield Green, and is part of the wider South East region. Ripley Springs has a population of around 5969 residents.
Ripley Springs and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
Egham and Englefield Green are among the places around Ripley Springs, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over TW postcodes. Give a postcode that starts TW20 9, and the van arrives quickest.
The car does not need to move. We drain it where it is — a side street near Changing Rooms, a lay-by on the way to Spring Rise Play Area, a drive. Assuming won't help behind Shilling Auditorium, close to a border, or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
The short version for Ripley Springs drivers
Tip no AdBlue till you've read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel will empty it wherever it is, anywhere around Surrey: switch the car off and phone 0333 366 0103.