How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West End
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave the motor and the ignition off then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in West End. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page explains the why it occurs and the how to avoid it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel goes to your motor — but plenty of newer diesels seen round West End and Lower Green hold a second fluid too. The exhaust, not your motor, is where AdBlue ends up: dosed into the gas to fresh them, from a separate tank.
Each tank has its own filler. Plenty of cars have a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled on each forecourt call-out, week in, week out. The AdBlue side is topped up far less regularly, normally from a bottle, and normally by somebody who has to stop and think where it goes. It's in that gap that the slip happens.
West End: how AdBlue in the diesel tank happens
It is hardly ever carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank sends it into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Neville Close, or heading home in the car park at The Prince of Wales.
Then, your hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — because a hire car, a new car or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not.
No part halts the tip once it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Claremont Park or the middle of West End, it is the same few seconds.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Rydens or a forecourt in West End, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually is not. Read it rather than going by position.
- The size. On many vehicles the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: plenty of cars have a label there saying which fuel goes where.
- The handbook says where it lives if the filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Hersham? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, rather than once the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
A routine for the day the light comes on, wherever around Surrey that is.
- Not in a rush on the side of Nightingale Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park then switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and speak the word "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- Leave your diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Stop when the tank fills or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip gently using the built-in spout.
- Shut the cap, and look once more — confirm the diesel filler remained closed the whole time. After that, start your car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you have already poured into your diesel side. Leave out stage five entirely.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in West End?
Brief list, then. First: the motor stays unstarted. The fuel pump starts on many diesels the moment the ignition goes on — so leave it off. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of your tank, just where the fuel is drawn from.
The attendants at Texaco, BP or another forecourt will normally lend a hand pushing the vehicle clear if asked. Your own drive around West End is the place it stays.
When your engine has been run already, stop safely then turn it off. West End sits under 5 miles from the M25; on it, use the first exit. Mileage counts — a short hop across West End makes a smaller job than heading under 15 miles to Westminster — so say about how far it went.
When we turn up in West End, what takes place?
Our van reaches your car wherever it has come to rest — your own driveway, beside Princess Charlotte's mausoleum, or by Burhill Primary School. What fluid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our engineers ask because the answers set both work and price. The quote comes on the call, ahead of any van leaving.
Next: a drain, then a full flush of the entire 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 that counts more here than with petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Your engine is fired up next and tested to confirm it runs smoothly, all before we head off.
If the engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once we are there, using pumps that are fine on a working 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. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
About West End itself
West End is a small suburban area in Surrey, situated on the lakeside with an elevation of around 15 metres. West End lies close to several nearby places, including Claremont Park, Esher, and Hersham, and is characterized by predominantly detached housing. West End is located approximately 14.8 miles from London and 14.6 miles from Westminster, making it a commuter-friendly location. West End has a population of around 948 residents.
AdBlue drains around West End and across Surrey
Esher and Hersham are among the places around West End, a residential suburb, that the same teams cover, throughout KT postcodes. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting KT10 8.
Moving your car isn't necessary. We drain it where it is — a side street near Nine Pin Alley, a lay-by on the way to West End Green, a drive. Assuming won't help at the back of Claremont Amphitheatre, close to a boundary, or anywhere awkward to describe; ring and ask.
In short, for West End motorists
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. Even so AdBlue in your diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it stands, anywhere across Surrey: keep the vehicle off and call 0333 366 0103.