AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Ripley: How It Occurs and How to Stop It
Pause reading for a moment when your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before the motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Ripley. Reading in advance? In that case what follows covers how it comes about and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Plenty of current diesels on the roads around Ripley and Ockham carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of cars have a single flap for both, whereas some move the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Topping up the diesel side at the pump goes on all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less commonly. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens in Ripley
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things lining up together.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a warning from the vehicle, and running out means limp mode — so a hurried top-up, maybe before work off Rose Lane, or outside The Ship on the way home that evening.
Then, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old car — because a rental car, a new vehicle 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 after it has started. It takes seconds, be it in Grove Heath or right in the centre of Ripley.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Ripley or a drive out in Pyrford Green. Seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is often blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Look for it.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Clandon? Ask whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever it is in Surrey — a simple routine to use.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time in hand — never rushing on the side of Portsmouth Road.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as unscrewing it. It seems silly. It works.
- Both under a single flap? Then confirm the cap on your diesel side stays closed ahead of lifting the bottle.
- Stop once that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly using the built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Find at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Leave out step five altogether.
Ripley: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start the engine. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Thinning it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the base instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Shell, ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle away from the pump. Your own driveway in Ripley is the place it stays.
When your motor has been run by now, pull over safely and switch the car off. On the M25, under 3 miles from Ripley, that means the next exit. A short hop across Ripley is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went.
When our engineers turn up in Ripley, what happens?
Outside Send CofE Primary School, close to St Mary's Church or on your own drive: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. We ask what went in, about how much, and if it's run, because those replies decide the work and the price. On the phone call itself, you are told the price — before dispatch.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, once your tank is drained. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals build up, some metals corrode, and none of it clears out on its own, no matter how long it sits. After your filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if required — fresh diesel goes in, and finally the car is tested. The engine is fired up next and checked to be sure it runs correctly, all before we go.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs where the motor has not run take roughly half an hour after our technicians arrive. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Ripley, briefly
Ripley is a village in Surrey, situated on the banks of the River Wey at an elevation of around 28 metres. Ripley lies approximately 21 miles south-west of central London, near the neighbouring communities of Grove Heath and Send Marsh. Ripley has a mix of housing types, with semi-detached homes being particularly prevalent. Ripley is also close to Pyrford Village, with which it shares some local amenities.
Ripley and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
Over GU postcodes, our vans covering Ripley — a village — work the surrounding locations too, Pyrford Village and Send Marsh among them. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting GU23 6.
Your car doesn't need to shift. Wherever it stands — near Send and Ripley History Society Museum, on a lay-by en route to Ripley Common, on a drive — that's where it gets emptied. Guessing won't help behind Ripley Village Hall, on a border, or somewhere hard to describe; ring and check.
In short, for Ripley motorists
Read the cap before you pour. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it waits, anywhere around Surrey.