AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Southgate: Why It Occurs and How to Prevent It
Stop here for a moment when your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. A drain and a full flush, carried out just where the car sits in Southgate, is usually all it takes when caught before your engine runs. Here before the event? In that case the rest covers how it happens and how to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Not one fluid but two: that is what plenty of newer diesels around Southgate and New Southgate carry, with diesel feeding the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
Each tank has its own filler. Many of motors have a single flap for both, while some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the petrol pump, your diesel side is topped up constantly. A driver who has to stop and work out where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less regularly. The error lives in that gap.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around Southgate
Seldom is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
On a drive off High Street before work, or in the car park outside Casablanca heading home: that is where the rushed top-up happens. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low your car tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode follows.
The old car's cap is where your hand goes — but a rental car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That's a second factor: an unfamiliar motor.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, once started, keeps on. Whether it happens in Osidge or the middle of Southgate, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
A couple of seconds is all these take — so run through them before you pour anything, on a drive in Oakwood or a forecourt in Southgate.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says where.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Palmers Green, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach the diesel tank
On the day the warning comes on — anywhere it is in Greater London — a routine to use.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of The Close.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, once you find the AdBlue filler and read it. Daft, perhaps, but it works.
- The diesel cap remains on. When both share a flap, make sure it's shut before the bottle comes up.
- Stop once the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; until then, tip slowly using the built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, and look again — making sure your diesel cap remained closed throughout. Only then, start the vehicle.
Find during the second or third stage that AdBlue went in the diesel tank? That is where you stop. Leave out step five altogether.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Southgate?
Short list, then. First: your engine stays off. On plenty of diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. AdBlue does not 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 dilute it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it is the Esso or the BP, ask the attendants to help push your car clear of the pump. On your own drive in Southgate? Then your car remains put.
Where your engine has been run by now, pull over safely and switch the car off. Southgate lies under 5 miles from the M25; on it, use the first exit. Distance counts — a short hop across Southgate is a smaller job than heading under 10 miles to London — so tell us roughly how far it went.
Our arrival in Southgate, and what takes place next
Our van comes to your car anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, beside Baron Lawrence of the Punjab, or by Walker Primary School. What liquid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: our technicians ask since those answers set both work and quote. The price is given over the phone, before any van leaves.
The system is then purged thoroughly, once your 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 counts more here than with petrol. After the filter is flushed — or renewed, where required — fresh diesel goes in, and then your vehicle gets tested. The engine is started next and tested to be sure it runs properly, all before we go.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive, provided the motor hasn't run — and the pumps we use are safe on a busy forecourt yet quiet after dark beside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. Misfuelling cover is included in plenty of insurance policies — and so make use of the wait to check yours.
About Southgate, briefly
Southgate is a locality in the London Borough of Enfield, situated approximately 8 miles north of central London. Southgate sits at an elevation of around 75 metres, with nearby areas including Osidge, Brunswick Park, and Arnos Grove. Southgate is predominantly composed of flat dwellings, accommodating a population of around 5030 residents. Southgate is located inland, with the nearest city being London, which is about 8 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Southgate and across Greater London
Over N postcodes, our vans covering Southgate — a small village — work the surrounding places too, Arnos Grove and Brunswick Park among them. Give a postcode that starts N14 6, and the van arrives fastest.
Your car does not need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Southgate Pocket Park, a side street near Southgate Library: our engineers drain it where it stands. Guessing won't help at the back of Southgate Public Library, close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
In short, for Southgate motorists
Read the cap before you pour. Still AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can empty it where it is, wherever around Greater London: switch the vehicle off and phone 0333 366 0103.