Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Spital: Why It Occurs
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the engine and your ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a full flush, done just where your car sits in Spital, is normally all it takes when found before your motor runs. Here in advance? Then the rest explains why it comes about and what to stop it ever happening.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Not one fluid but two: that's how plenty of modern diesels near Spital and Clewer Village run, with diesel for the motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Other vehicles put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot more have the two together under one flap. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. Mistakes happen in that gap between the two.
Spital: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
It's seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
On a driveway off St Leonard's Road before work, or in the car park outside The Alma on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up takes place. Why the rush? As AdBlue gets low the car warns you, and if it is empty, limp mode follows.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — yet a hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: a new motor.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after begun, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Spital or out in Clewer New Town.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Check these before pouring, on a forecourt around Spital or a drive over in St Leonardshill. Seconds, that's all.
- Position misleads; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or carry the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones usually don't.
- Plenty of cars give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — many motors mark what goes in each filler right there.
- Cannot see it beside the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Windsor & Eton Central? Ask whoever drove it last before you set off, rather than once the light comes on.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
The day the light comes on, anywhere around Berkshire, follow this routine.
- Stop on level, engine off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Bulkeley Avenue.
- Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap, after finding the AdBlue filler and reading it. Silly, perhaps, yet it does the trick.
- The diesel cap remains on. When the two sit under a flap, confirm it is closed before the bottle comes up.
- Stop when your tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, pour gently through its own spout.
- Only after that, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure the diesel cap was never opened.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Leave out step five entirely.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Spital?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting your engine. Don't switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of that tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
The attendants at Shell, BP or any forecourt will normally lend a hand to push the car clear if asked. At home around Spital? So the vehicle remains put.
Stop as soon as it is safe and switch off, if your motor has already run. On the M4, under 3 miles from Spital, that means the next junction. A short hop across Spital is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
What takes place when our engineers arrive around Spital
Outside Oakfield First School, close to St Agnes or on your own driveway: wherever the vehicle has stopped, our technicians come to it. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it has run, since those answers decide the work and our quote. No one sets off until you've heard the quote by phone.
Emptying your tank comes next, then a thorough flush of the fuel system. 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 here than with petrol. Testing is last: before that, clean diesel goes in, and the filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Before we go, our technicians start it and confirm that it's running properly.
If your motor has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we're there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It is worth looking at your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Spital itself
Spital is a suburban area in Berkshire, situated inland at an elevation of 31 metres, approximately 21 miles from central London. Spital forms part of the wider urban area surrounding Windsor, with nearby places including Clewer New Town and Clewer Green. Spital has a population of around 4314 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Spital is located near the River Thames, with the city of Westminster about 21 miles away.
AdBlue drains around Spital and across Berkshire
Over SL postcodes, our vans covering Spital — a residential suburb — work the nearby places too, Windsor and Clewer Green included. A postcode starting SL4 3 gets our van to you fastest.
The car doesn't need to shift. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Stag Meadow, a lay-by on the way to Wood Close, a driveway. Guessing doesn't help behind Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and check.
The short version for Spital people
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave it switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Berkshire.