Shirley: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page aside a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. In Shirley, catching it before your engine turns usually leaves draining and a full flush where it stands. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page explains the why it occurs and the ways to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
No single liquid but two: that is what plenty of modern diesels near Shirley and Monks Orchard run, with diesel feeding your motor. The exhaust, not your engine, is where AdBlue ends up: sprayed into the fumes to fresh it, from a separate tank.
There's a filler on every tank. Under one flap, side by side: that's the layout on many motors. Elsewhere, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The mistake lives in that gap.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Shirley: how it takes place
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
On a drive off Upper Shirley Road before work, or in the car park outside The Crown heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and if it is gone, limp mode follows.
Then the car is new. A hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
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. Whether it occurs in Upper Shirley or the middle of Shirley, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Whether a Shirley forecourt or a drive out in Woodside, take a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally are not.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of motors have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where your filler sits if it's not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you which.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you collect a hire car or fleet car — from East Croydon's car park, say — not once the light comes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
For the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is in Greater London — a simple routine to follow.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Shirley Road.
- Silly as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — once you've located the filler and read the cap.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start the car: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Skip step five entirely.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Shirley?
Then the order of things is short. Don't start your motor. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
If you're at a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Esso, ask the attendants to help push the vehicle clear of the pump. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway in Shirley.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if the engine has already run. Shirley sits under 10 miles from the M25; on it, take the first exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Shirley is smaller work than a trip of under 10 miles to Westminster, and so tell us.
Our arrival around Shirley, and what occurs next
Our van comes to the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Shirley Methodist Church, or outside St John's CofE Primary School. Our technicians ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it has run, because those replies decide the work and our quote. During the phone call itself, you are told the quote — before dispatch.
Your system is then purged thoroughly, once that tank is cleared. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why that matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Filter flushed or, where it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a test of the vehicle. Your engine is fired up next and tested to make sure it runs smoothly, all before our technicians head off.
Using pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the motor hasn't run need about half an hour once our engineers are there. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for the insurer. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Shirley, briefly
Shirley is a suburban area in southern Greater London, situated approximately 9.8 miles from central London and 9.3 miles from Westminster. Shirley sits at an elevation of around 77 metres, characterised by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Shirley is bordered by nearby places such as Upper Shirley, Addiscombe, and Spring Park, and has a population of around 3848 residents.
AdBlue drains round Shirley, and Greater London beyond
Shirley is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, Addiscombe and Spring Park among them, across the CR postcode area. Quote a postcode beginning CR0 5, and our van gets there fastest.
The car doesn't need to shift. Wherever it stands — near Shirley Methodist Church Hall, on a lay-by en route to MHA The Wilderness, at home — that is where it gets drained. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Shirley Parish Hall, ring and ask rather than assuming.
For Shirley drivers, the short version
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave the vehicle off then phone 0333 366 0103.