AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Smoky Hole: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It
Pause here a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. Usually, if your motor has not run, it is drained and thoroughly rinsed where your vehicle sits around Smoky Hole. Here before the event? Then what follows covers how it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Not one liquid but two: that's what plenty of newer diesels around Smoky Hole and Burrows Cross run, with diesel feeding your engine. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
There is a filler on every tank. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on a lot of cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in the boot instead. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by a driver who must stop and think which cap it needs. The mistake lives in that gap.
Smoky Hole: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done in a rush, before work on a driveway off Peaslake Lane, or heading home in the car park at Hurtwood Hotel.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That's the second thing: an unfamiliar vehicle.
Nothing stops the pour once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it happens in Peaslake or the middle of Smoky Hole, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Check these before pouring, at a forecourt in Smoky Hole or a drive out in Abinger Hammer. A few seconds, no more.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap normally isn't. Read it instead of going by where it sits.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- A label inside your fuel flap often shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of motors. Look for it.
- The handbook. If your filler isn't by your diesel cap, it is in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Gomshall, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
Wherever around Surrey the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — never hurried on the side of Pursers Lane.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave it on.
- Finish once the tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly through the own spout.
- Before you start the vehicle, close the cap and look a second time that your diesel cap was never opened off.
Spot at stage two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop right there. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Smoky Hole?
Do not start your motor: that is where the short order of things starts. Leave the ignition off as well, because on plenty of diesels switching it on by itself starts your pump. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is pulled from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the Esso or the Shell, ask the staff to help roll your car away from the pump. At home around Smoky Hole? Then the vehicle stays put.
Already started? Stop when it is sensible, then turn off. The next junction means the place to come off when you're on the M25, under 10 miles from Smoky Hole. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Westminster, under 50 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Smoky Hole.
Smoky Hole: what takes place when our engineers arrive
Wherever the car came to rest, be it outside Peaslake Free School, near Peaselake Village Hall or at home, the van travels to it. Both the work and the quote rest on three replies — which fluid, which amount, and whether it has run — so our technicians ask. The price comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Then the tank is drained and the system cleaned thoroughly. 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 here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. The engine is started next and checked to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers go.
Unstarted cars usually need a half-hour job after arrival. The equipment is fine on a live filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street after dark. Your insurer usually wants the engineer's report and the VAT invoice, and both are yours once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we're on the way.
About Smoky Hole, for a moment
Smoky Hole is a small suburban area in Surrey, situated on the riverside with an elevation of around 129 metres. Smoky Hole lies approximately 25 miles south-west of central London, near the villages of Peaslake and Sutton Abinger. Smoky Hole is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting the area's residential nature. Smoky Hole remains a relatively quiet and secluded community, despite its proximity to the capital.
AdBlue drains across Surrey, Smoky Hole included
Smoky Hole is a residential suburb, and our vans that cover it also work the towns around it, Hoe and Sutton Abinger among them, across the GU postcode area. A postcode starting GU5 9 gets the van to you fastest.
Moving your car is not needed. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Riding Copse, a side street close to St Mark's Church: we drain the vehicle where it sits. Assuming doesn't help behind Hill Fort at Felday, close to a border, or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
In short, for Smoky Hole motorists
Before you pour, read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank after all? Keep the car switched off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Surrey.