Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Hale: Why It Happens
Leave your motor and ignition off then ring 0333 366 0103 now — reading can wait if AdBlue is already in the diesel tank. Normally, if your engine hasn't run, it is emptied and fully flushed where the car is around The Hale. If you're reading before it has happened, the remainder of this page is about why it takes place and how to make sure it doesn't.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle: two tanks, two fillers
Many current diesels on the roads about The Hale and Edgware Bury carry two liquids, not one. Diesel goes to your motor. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into your exhaust stream to clean it.
Separate tanks, different fillers. On a lot of motors the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in your boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is filled at the pump all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by a driver who must stop and think what cap to use. The error lives in that gap.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank occur in The Hale?
Carelessness rarely explains it. Instead is three things coming up together.
Haste follows from the warning. The car tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank sends the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Northolm, or heading home in the car park outside Railway Tavern.
New-to-you cars come next, as well. Rentals, new vehicles and company motors put their fillers differently, and habit goes for the cap it used on the old one.
Third, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in just as easily, and after the pour starts, nothing stops it. Whether it takes place in Edgware or the middle of The Hale, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Grahame Park or a forecourt in The Hale, check these. They take a few seconds.
- Blue and marking: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not its position.
- Many motors give AdBlue the smaller filler of the two.
- Check inside the fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler isn't 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 at Mill Hill Broadway.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Greater London that is.
- Turn off once parked — level ground, engine off, and not in a rush beside Stoneyfields Gardens on the verge.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud as unscrewing it. It sounds silly. It works.
- The diesel cap stays on. When the two share a flap, confirm it's closed before the bottle comes up.
- Finish once the tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly using its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check once more. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around The Hale?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. The fuel pump runs on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition goes on — and so keep it off. Diluting it with extra diesel won't work, since AdBlue sinks to the bottom instead of mixing — and that is where your fuel is drawn from.
The staff at Texaco, Shell or another forecourt will usually help pushing the car away when you ask. At home in The Hale? Then your car stays put.
Already run? Stop once it is safe, then switch off. The Hale lies under a mile from the M1; there, take the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across The Hale is less a job than a trip of under 10 miles towards St Albans, so say.
The Hale: what takes place when we get there
Our van comes to the car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, near John Keble Church, or outside Mathilda Marks-Kennedy Jewish Primary School. Both the work and our quote rest on three replies — which liquid, which amount, and whether it's run — so our engineers ask. You get that price on the phone, before anyone heads out.
Then the tank is emptied and the system rinsed thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it counts here: the crystals form, some metals are attacked, and none of that clears away unaided, no matter how long it sits. Testing is last: before that, fresh diesel goes in, and your filter is flushed or replaced if necessary. We do not leave until it has been fired up and is running smoothly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which the engine hasn't run take roughly half an hour after our engineers arrive. Payment is on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About The Hale
The Hale is a suburban area in northwest London, situated near the River Brent and close to several neighbouring communities, including Edgware and Burnt Oak. The Hale sits at an elevation of around 74 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. The Hale is located approximately 9.6 miles from central London, making it a commuter-friendly location for those working in the city. The Hale is also near Highwood Hill, which offers scenic views of the surrounding area.
AdBlue drains around The Hale and across Greater London
Over HA postcodes, our vans covering The Hale — a residential suburb — work the surrounding spots too, Highwood Hill and Burnt Oak included. Our van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting HA8 9.
Shifting the car isn't necessary. Draining takes place right there, whether a drive, a road near Edgware Abbey, or a lay-by towards Stoneyfields Park. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain like the back of Lubavitch of Edgware, ring and ask rather than guessing.
The Hale drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Petrol in Diesel drains it on the spot, anywhere around Greater London, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless — and so leave the vehicle off and ring 0333 366 0103.