Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in South Norwood: Why It Happens
Stop here a minute if your diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your engine hasn't run, it's emptied and fully purged where the vehicle is in South Norwood. Nothing happened yet? Below, the rest of the page covers the reasons it happens and the ways to avoid it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels on the roads around South Norwood and Anerley carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your engine. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Different tanks, different fillers. Other vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; plenty of others place the two side by side under one flap. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt visit, again and again. Far less frequently, the AdBlue side gets filled — normally from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
South Norwood: how AdBlue in your diesel tank takes place
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things coincide.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and running out means limp mode — hence a hurried top-up, perhaps before work off Clifford Road, perhaps outside The Cherry Tree on the way home that evening.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That's the second factor: a strange vehicle.
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 pour after it has started. Whether it occurs in Woodside or the middle of South Norwood, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Addiscombe or a forecourt around South Norwood, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". Your diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Check the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of vehicles, the AdBlue one.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently says which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook says which it lives if the filler is not next to your diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you pick up a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside Norwood Junction.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
Wherever across Greater London the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Doyle Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When both share a flap, make sure it's closed before lifting the bottle.
- Stop when that tank fills or the bottle is empty; until then, pour slowly through its built-in spout.
- Close the cap, then look again — making sure your diesel cap remained closed throughout. After that, start the car.
Spot at step two or three that it's already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Step five stays out.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around South Norwood?
Don't start the engine: that's where the short order of things starts. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — and so leave it off. Diluting it with more diesel fails, since AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that is where the fuel is drawn from.
Ask the attendants to help roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Shell, the Esso or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive around South Norwood.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your engine has already run. Come off the M23 — under 10 miles out of South Norwood — at the next junction. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Westminster, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across South Norwood.
What occurs when our technicians turn up in South Norwood
Wherever the vehicle has stopped, whether by South Norwood Primary, beside South Norwood Islamic Centre or on your own drive, the van comes to it. Our technicians ask what got 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 the quote — before anything else.
Next: a drain, then a thorough flush of the whole system. 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 the flush matters more here than with petrol. The filter cleaned or, if it must be, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a test of your vehicle. The engine is started next and tested to confirm it runs correctly, all before our engineers leave.
Unstarted cars mostly mean a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once the job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. Wrong-fuel cover is part of plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to look at yours.
About South Norwood and where it is
South Norwood is a suburban area in south London, situated approximately 8 miles from central London and 7.5 miles from Westminster. South Norwood has a relatively low elevation of 51 metres and is characterised by a high proportion of flat dwellings. South Norwood is bordered by nearby places such as Woodside, Selhurst, and Elmers End, and has a population of around 16,194 residents. South Norwood forms part of the larger London urban landscape, with a mix of residential and commercial areas.
South Norwood and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
As a residential suburb, South Norwood shares its vans surrounding areas — Selhurst, Elmers End — all the way through SE postcodes and the surrounding area beyond. Quote a postcode that starts SE25 5, and the van arrives fastest.
The car does not need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to South Norwood Recreation Ground, a side street near Masjid Uthman: we drain it where it sits. Awkward to pin down, like the back of St Mark's? Close to a border? Asking is better than assuming, and so phone.
The short version for South Norwood drivers
Always, the cap; then, the pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it wherever it is, anywhere across Greater London: keep it off then ring 0333 366 0103.