Sydenham Hill: How Does AdBlue End Up in a Diesel Tank, and How Do You Prevent It?
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside for now, leave your ignition and engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Sydenham Hill. Nothing happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the reasons it takes place and the ways to prevent it for good.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Many newer diesels in Forest Hill, like those in Sydenham Hill, carry on two liquids; your engine takes just your diesel. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler is under the bonnet or in your boot instead. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump happens constantly. The AdBlue side is filled far less commonly, usually from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the mistake lives.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Sydenham Hill: how it occurs
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, your vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off Sydenham Hill before work, or in the car park at The Wood House on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers somewhere else. That is the second thing: an unfamiliar car.
A spouted bottle meets no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. And so the pour, after started, carries on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Sydenham Hill or out in Upper Sydenham.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Look at these before pouring, on a forecourt in Sydenham Hill or a driveway over in Gipsy Hill. A few seconds, no more.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- On plenty of motors, size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — plenty of motors show what belongs in each inlet just there.
- The handbook. If your filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Check with the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — if you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park outside the nearest station.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
Wherever around Greater London the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Pull in somewhere level, motor off, with time in hand — not hurried on the side of Crescent Wood Road.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap, then check once more — confirm the diesel filler stayed shut the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Don't go on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in your diesel tank around Sydenham Hill?
Brief list, then. First: your motor stays off. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch it on. Filling up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
Ask the staff to help push the car clear of the pump if you are at a forecourt — the Shell, the Texaco or anywhere else. If you are on your own driveway in Sydenham Hill, leave the vehicle where it is.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Sydenham Hill sits under 10 miles from the M4; there, use the next exit. Tell us about how far it went: a run towards Westminster, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Sydenham Hill.
Our arrival around Sydenham Hill, and what takes place next
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Kelvin Grove Primary School, near John Logie Baird or on your own drive. Those replies determine the work and our price, so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether it's run. You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody heads out.
Next: draining, then a full flush of the whole system. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, and so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why the flush counts more here than with petrol. Once the filter is flushed — or replaced, where needed — clean diesel is added, and finally the vehicle is tested. We don't leave until it has been started and is running properly.
Using pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough for use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine has not run take roughly half an hour once our technicians are there. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork your insurer wants: an engineer report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your insurance while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Sydenham Hill itself
Sydenham Hill is a suburban area in south London, situated approximately 5.7 miles from the city centre. Sydenham Hill sits at an elevation of around 109 metres, overlooking the surrounding areas of Upper Sydenham, Dulwich, and Sydenham. Sydenham Hill is predominantly composed of flat dwellings, providing residential accommodation for its population of around 8105 people. Sydenham Hill is close to Westminster, being about 5.3 miles away from the city.
Sydenham Hill and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
Dulwich and Sydenham are among the towns around Sydenham Hill, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, over SE postcodes. Fastest of all: give a SE26 6 postcode for the van.
The car does not need to shift. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Wells Park Community Centre, a lay-by on the way to Dulwich Wood, a drive. Guessing won't help at the back of The Folly, close to a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
In short, for Sydenham Hill drivers
First, the cap; after that, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the car off then phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Greater London.