Why It Happens and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Whetstone
If AdBlue is already in your diesel tank, stop reading for a moment: leave your engine and your ignition off and phone 0333 366 0103. In Whetstone, finding it before your motor runs usually leaves draining and a full flush on the spot. Not happened yet? Further down, the rest of the page covers the why it happens and the how to prevent it for good.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the motor — yet many newer diesels seen around Whetstone and East Barnet carry a second fluid too. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into your exhaust stream and cleans it.
There is a filler on every tank. 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. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump goes on constantly. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less commonly, normally from a bottle, and normally by someone who has to stop and think where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between the two.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank happens around Whetstone
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
To start with, the warning. Low AdBlue triggers a message from your car, and letting it run dry means limp mode — hence a rushed top-up, perhaps before work off Sweets Way, or outside Three Horseshoes on the way home after work.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — yet a rental car, a new motor or a company car puts the fillers elsewhere. That is the second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
A spouted bottle meets no resistance at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, keeps on. The same few seconds decide it, in the middle of Whetstone or out in Totteridge.
Which filler is for AdBlue, and which for diesel?
Be it a Whetstone forecourt or a driveway over in North Finchley, take a few seconds on these before any is poured in.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually doesn't. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On many cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- Lift the filler flap and check for a label — many cars show what goes in each inlet right there.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by your diesel cap, it's in the boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- The previous driver will know. Check when you pick up a rental or fleet car — from Oakleigh Park's car park, perhaps — rather than once the light appears.
AdBlue top-ups that never reach your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever you are around Greater London — a routine to follow.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time in hand — not rushing on the side of Rasper Road.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- Leave the diesel cap on. If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle.
- Finish when your tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; until then, tip gently through the own spout.
- Only then, start the vehicle: close the cap, check once more, and make sure your diesel cap was never opened.
Spot at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? Then stop just there. Do not go on to stage five.
AdBlue in the diesel tank already, around Whetstone?
What follows is a short order of things, beginning with no starting the engine. Leave your ignition off as well, since on many diesels it alone starts your fuel pump. Topping up with diesel will not dilute it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, right where fuel is drawn from.
At a forecourt — Esso, BP or another — the attendants will usually help push the car clear, when you ask. If you are on your own drive in Whetstone, leave the vehicle where it is.
Already run? Pull over when it is sensible, then turn off. On the M1, under 3 miles from Whetstone, that means the next exit. A short hop across Whetstone is a smaller job than a run towards London, under 10 miles away, so tell us roughly how far it went.
What takes place when we get there around Whetstone
Our engineers come to the vehicle wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Alma Primary, close to Saint John the Apostle or on your own driveway. Our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether it's run, because the answers decide this work and the price. Nobody sets off before you have heard the price over the phone.
Draining the tank comes next, then a full flush of the system. More than with petrol, it counts with AdBlue: crystals form, certain metals are attacked, and nothing clears away on its own, however long it is left. After your filter has been cleaned — or renewed, if required — clean diesel is added, and then your car gets tested. We don't leave until it has been fired up and is running properly.
With pumps safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night, most jobs where the engine hasn't run take about half an hour once our technicians arrive. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
About Whetstone
Whetstone is a suburban area in Greater London, situated near the lakes and water features of the area. Whetstone sits at an elevation of 101 metres, approximately 8.5 miles from central London, and is surrounded by other suburban areas such as Totteridge and Oakleigh Park. Whetstone has a population of around 8830 people, predominantly residing in flats. Whetstone is also close to other nearby places like Woodside Park.
Whetstone and Greater London: AdBlue drains across the area
Oakleigh Park and Woodside Park are among the towns around Whetstone, a residential suburb, that the same vans cover, over N postcodes. Fastest of all: quote a N20 0 postcode to our van.
The car remains where it is. Draining takes place on the spot, be it a driveway, a road by Tony Clark Memorial Bench, or a layby on the way to St John the Apostole Gardens. Tricky to explain, like the back of Lollypop Man Memorial? By a county line? Checking is better than assuming, so ring.
For Whetstone drivers, the short version
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank anyway, leave the car off then ring 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere around Greater London.