--- title: Explained: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank Teddington canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/teddington-greater-london/ location: Teddington county: Greater London latitude: 51.427100 longitude: -0.333190 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-05 --- # AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Teddington: How It Occurs and How to Prevent It AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case put this page aside for now, leave the ignition and engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it's usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Teddington. If you are reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it occurs and how to make sure it does not. ## AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers Plenty of modern diesels around Hampton Hill, like those in Teddington, carry on two liquids; your motor gets just your diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust stream to clean it. There is a filler for each tank. Some cars put the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both side by side under one flap. Topping up your diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes usually tops up the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less commonly. That gap is where the error lives. ## How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Teddington? It is seldom carelessness. Three things tend to line up. Hurry comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens in a rush, before work on a driveway off Elmfield Avenue, or on the way home in the car park at The Teddington Arms. Then your car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and your hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one. Nothing halts the tip once it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Strawberry Hill or the middle of Teddington: it is the same few seconds either way. ## Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler Before you pour anything, whether on a drive in Hampton Wick or a forecourt in Teddington, check these. They take a few seconds. - Position misleads; the cap doesn't. AdBlue ones are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel caps usually do not. - Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two. - Lift the flap and check for a label — many cars mark what belongs in which inlet right there. - The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which. - Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at the nearest station? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, not when the light comes on. ## Keeping AdBlue out of the diesel tank when you top up A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Greater London that is. - Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your engine running, and not in a rush on the side of Station Road. - Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It seems daft. It works. - Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle. - Pour slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it's full or when the bottle is empty. - Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car. Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Leave out stage five altogether. ## Teddington: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment the ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Filling up with diesel will not weaken it: rather than mixing, AdBlue drops to the base of that tank, just where fuel is taken from. Ask the attendants to help push the car away from the pump if you're at a forecourt — the NPL Hydrogen Station, the BP or anywhere else. Leave it where it is if you are on your own driveway around Teddington. If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. On the M3, under 5 miles from Teddington, that means the next junction. A short hop across Teddington is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 15 miles away, and so tell us about how far it went. ## When we arrive around Teddington, what occurs? Our van reaches the vehicle anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Christ Church Hall, or outside St Mary's and St Peter's Church of England Primary School. What liquid was put in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask since the replies decide both work and price. The quote is given on the call, ahead of any van leaving. Emptying that tank comes next, followed by a full flush of the fuel 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 counts more here than with petrol. After your filter is flushed — or replaced, if required — fresh diesel goes in, and then the car gets tested. Before we leave, our engineers fire it up and check that it is running smoothly. Unrun vehicles mostly mean a half-hour visit after arrival. The kit is safe on a live forecourt, and quiet enough for a residential street after dark. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way. ## About Teddington, briefly Teddington is a locality in southwest London, situated on the River Thames at an elevation of around 12 metres. Teddington lies approximately 10 miles from central London and is close to nearby places such as Strawberry Hill, Fulwell, and Ham. Teddington has a population of around 7211 people and is characterised by predominantly terraced housing. Teddington's riverside setting has influenced its development and appearance. ## AdBlue drains around Teddington and across Greater London Throughout TW postcodes, the teams covering Teddington — a small village — work the surrounding places too, Ham and Fulwell among them. Our van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting TW11 8. No need to move the vehicle. We drain it where it is — a side street near Sugden Hall, a lay-by on the way to Teddington Library Garden, a drive. Tricky to explain, like the back of Teddington Library? Close to a border? Checking beats assuming, so phone. ## The short version for Teddington motorists Before you tip, read the cap. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave it switched off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across Greater London.