How It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in West Harrow
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, leave the ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Caught before your engine runs, it's generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in West Harrow. The remainder of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading before it has happened.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel car
Many newer diesels in Harrow, like those in West Harrow, carry on two fluids; your engine takes only the diesel. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Separate tanks, separate fillers. Many of motors share a single flap for both, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. At the pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Far less commonly, the AdBlue side gets filled — mostly from a bottle, by a person working out where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in West Harrow?
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them.
Haste comes from the warning. The vehicle warns you as AdBlue runs low, and an empty tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up happens quickly, before work on a drive off Shaftesbury Avenue, or heading home in the car park at Maya Pub.
The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers elsewhere. That is a second thing: an unfamiliar vehicle.
A spout-topped bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. And so the tip, after started, carries on. Whether it occurs in Roxeth or the middle of West Harrow, it is the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Harrow on the Hill or a forecourt around West Harrow, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is regularly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it instead of going by position.
- The size. On many motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Check inside your fuel flap: many vehicles have a label there showing which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet.
- The person who drove the car last. On a hire or company car collected from somewhere like the car park at Harrow-on-the-Hill, ask before you leave, not when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever around Greater London the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Pull in somewhere level, engine off, with time to spare — not rushing on the side of Furness Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, and look again — making sure the diesel cap stayed shut the whole time. After that, start the vehicle.
Find at stage two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Leave out step five altogether.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, in West Harrow?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the motor. On many diesels the ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch it on. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, because AdBlue sinks to the base instead of blending — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
The staff at Shell, BP or another forecourt will usually lend a hand to push your car clear when you ask. At home in West Harrow? So your car remains where it is.
Already run? Pull over once it is sensible, then turn off. The next junction is the place to leave if you are on the M1, under 5 miles from West Harrow. A short hop across West Harrow is a smaller job than a run towards Westminster, under 15 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
When we arrive in West Harrow, what takes place?
Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that is outside Grange Primary School, near Saint Peter's Harrow or on your own driveway. Which liquid was put in, the amount, and whether it ran: our technicians ask since the replies set the work and price. You hear that quote on the phone, before anyone sets off.
Then that tank is drained and your system flushed thoroughly. 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 that counts more here than with petrol. Testing comes last: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or changed as needed. Before we go, we start it and make sure that it's running correctly.
With pumps safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs in which your engine hasn't run need about half an hour once we are there. The insurer usually wants the engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both once this job is done. Payment comes on the day, with no deposit. Before we get there, take a look at your policy; many include cover for misfuelling.
About West Harrow and where it is
West Harrow is a suburban area in northwest London, situated approximately 10.8 miles from the city centre. West Harrow sits at an elevation of 61 metres, with nearby places including Roxeth, Rayners Lane, and North Harrow. West Harrow is predominantly composed of flat dwellings, which house a population of around 11,964 residents. West Harrow is well connected to the surrounding areas, including the nearby city of Westminster,
AdBlue drains across Greater London, West Harrow included
Being a residential suburb, West Harrow shares its vans nearby areas — Rayners Lane, North Harrow — all the way through HA postcodes and the surrounding area around them. The van reaches you fastest with a postcode starting HA2 0.
The vehicle remains where it is. We drain it where it is — a side street close to Coles Crescent Community Centre, a lay-by on the way to West Harrow Recreation Ground, a driveway. Ring and ask rather than guessing if you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, like the back of Harrow Royal British Legion.
West Harrow drivers: the short version
Before you tip, read the cap. Even so AdBlue in the diesel tank? Petrol in Diesel can drain it where it is, anywhere around Greater London: switch the car off and call 0333 366 0103.