South Holmwood: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Avoid It?
Leave the engine and ignition off then call 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait when AdBlue is already in your diesel tank. Caught before your motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in South Holmwood. The remainder of this page covers why it takes place and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel vehicle
Plenty of newer diesels on the roads about South Holmwood and North Holmwood carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to the engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, and there a spray treats the fumes.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors have a single flap for the two, while others put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is topped up at the petrol pump all the time. Far less regularly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around South Holmwood
Three things tend to line up, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a warning from the car, and running out leads to limp mode — so a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Mill Road, or at Village Club on the way home after work.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it knew on the old motor — since a hire car, a new motor or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after begun, keeps on. Whether it happens in Holmwood Corner or the middle of South Holmwood, it's the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Beare Green or a forecourt around South Holmwood, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- Open the filler flap and check for a label — many vehicles mark which belongs in each inlet right there.
- In the boot or under the bonnet: that is where the filler sits if it is not by your diesel cap, and the handbook tells you 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 Holmwood.
Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up
On the day the warning appears — wherever it is around Surrey — a simple routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with the engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Warwick Road.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap works — after you have found the filler and read the cap.
- The two under one flap? Then confirm the cap on your diesel filler stays shut before raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Only after that, start your car: close the cap, check again, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Step five stays off limits.
South Holmwood: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The short order of things, starting with not starting the engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
The staff at Esso, Murco or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push your car away if asked. Your own drive in South Holmwood is the place it stays.
Where the motor has run by now, stop safely and switch the car off. The next exit is the place to come off when you are on the M25, under 10 miles from South Holmwood. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across South Holmwood.
South Holmwood: what happens when our technicians arrive
The van reaches your car anywhere it stopped — your own drive, beside War Memorial, or by The Weald CofE Primary School. Those answers determine this work and the price, and so our engineers ask what went in, roughly how much, and if it's run. You get that quote by phone, before anyone heads out.
Then that tank is cleared and your system rinsed thoroughly. 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 that counts more here than with petrol. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The motor is started next and tested to be sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers go.
With pumps fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine hasn't run need roughly half an hour after our engineers are there. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. While we travel, have a look at your policy; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About South Holmwood, briefly
South Holmwood is a small village in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of around 116 metres. South Holmwood lies approximately 23 miles south of London, near the settlements of Holmwood Corner and Mid Holmwood. South Holmwood has a population of around 633 people, predominantly living in semi-detached housing. South Holmwood is also close to the nearby area of Blackbrook.
South Holmwood and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
South Holmwood is a rural village, and our vans that cover it also work the places near it, Mid Holmwood and Blackbrook among them, across the RH postcode area. Quickest of all: give a RH5 4 postcode for the van.
The vehicle remains put. The drain takes place right there, whether a drive, a street near St. Mary's Church, or a layby towards Betchets Green. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Holmwood Village Hall, ring and ask instead of guessing.
South Holmwood motorists: the short version
First, the cap; then, the tip. Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, anywhere across Surrey, if AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank all the same — so leave it off then call 0333 366 0103.