Avoiding AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in The Warren: Why It Occurs
Stop reading for a moment if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, motor off, and ring 0333 366 0103. In The Warren, finding it before the motor runs normally leaves draining and a thorough flush where it stands. Here in advance? Then what follows explains how it happens and what to stop it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel feeds your motor — but many modern diesels driven around The Warren and Bullbrook carry a second liquid too. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where a spray cleans the fumes.
Each tank has one filler of its own. Some vehicles keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others have the two together under one flap. The diesel side is fuelled at the pump all the time. Seldom filled, AdBlue normally comes out of a bottle, poured by someone who has to stop and think which cap it needs. It is in the gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place around The Warren
Carelessness rarely causes it. Instead is three things lining up at once.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off New Forest Ride before work, or in the car park at Newtown Pippin on the way home.
Then the car is strange. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one didn't, and the hand hits for the cap it would have used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout fits: a diesel filler or AdBlue one, it goes in just as readily, and once the tip starts, nothing halts it. Whether it occurs in Martins Heron or the middle of The Warren, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Look at these first, on a forecourt around The Warren or a driveway out in Crown Wood. Seconds, no more.
- Colour and lettering: an AdBlue cap is frequently blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally doesn't. Go by the cap, not its position.
- On many motors, size gives it away: AdBlue has the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on many vehicles. Look for it.
- The handbook shows where it lives when the filler is not next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove it last. On a hire or company car picked up from somewhere like the car park outside Martins Heron, ask before you leave, 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 in Berkshire that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Epping Way, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it works.
- Both under a single flap? So make sure the cap on the diesel side is still shut before raising the bottle.
- Tip slowly, using the bottle's own spout. Stop when it is full or when the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never carry on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in The Warren?
Short list, then. Top of that: your engine remains off. Do not switch the ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Do not top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue does not mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of your tank, where your fuel is sucked from.
At a forecourt — Esso, BP or any other — the staff will usually help roll your car clear, if you ask. Your own drive around The Warren is the place it stays.
Already run? Pull over once it's sensible, then turn off. Leave the A329(M) — under 5 miles out of The Warren — at the next junction. A short hop across The Warren is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 50 miles away, and so tell us roughly how far it went.
What happens when our technicians arrive around The Warren
Wherever the car has stopped, be it outside Harmans Water Primary School, beside Martin's Heron & The Warren Community Centre or on your own drive, the van travels to it. Which liquid got in, the quantity, and if it ran: we ask because the replies set the work and quote. No one sets off before you've had the price over the phone.
The system is then cleaned thoroughly, once that tank is emptied. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of that clears out unaided. Hence it matters more. After the filter is cleaned — or renewed, if needed — fresh diesel goes in, and finally your car gets tested. We don't go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the paperwork your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Before we get there, have a look at your insurance documents; plenty include cover for misfuelling.
About The Warren, briefly
The Warren is a suburban area in Berkshire, situated on the riverside with an elevation of 74 metres. The Warren lies near several nearby places, including Martins Heron, Harmans Water, and Forest Park, and is located approximately 26.6 miles from London. The Warren has a population of around 5422 people and is characterised by predominantly terraced housing. The Warren is part of the wider urban area surrounding Westminster, which is also its nearest city.
AdBlue drains in The Warren and across Berkshire
Over RG postcodes, our vans covering The Warren — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Forest Park and Harmans Water among them. Give a postcode that starts RG12 9, and our van gets there fastest.
The vehicle does not need to shift. A drive, a lay-by on the way to Bog Lane Hidden Play Park, a side street close to House of the Dursley Family: our technicians drain the car where it is. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of Harman's Water Library, ring and ask instead of assuming.
The Warren drivers: the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it stands, anywhere in Berkshire.