How It Occurs and How to Prevent It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Willesden
Stop here a minute if the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then phone 0333 366 0103. In Willesden, catching it before the motor turns usually means a drain and a full flush on the spot. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to ensure it doesn't — handy if you are reading before it has happened.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
Diesel goes to your motor — but plenty of modern diesels seen about Willesden and Brondesbury Park carry another fluid as well. Stored in a tank of its own, AdBlue is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Every tank has one filler of its own. Plenty of vehicles have a single flap for the two, whereas some put the AdBlue filler to the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel goes in on every filling station call-out, week in, week out. Someone who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less frequently. The mistake lives in that gap.
Willesden: how AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs
Seldom is it carelessness: normally three things line up.
On a driveway off Hawthorn Road before work, or in the car park outside Flynn's on the way home: that is where the hurried top-up happens. Why the rush? As AdBlue runs low the car warns you, and once it's empty, limp mode follows.
Unfamiliar cars are next, too. Hire cars, new vehicles and company vehicles place their fillers in new places, and the hand goes for the cap it used on the old one.
And the bottle fits. A bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one, so nothing stops the tip once it has started. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Willesden or out in Willesden Green.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Harlesden or a forecourt around Willesden, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Go by the cap, not its position.
- Many vehicles give AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on many cars. Look for it.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel inlet? In that case check beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook will say which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park outside Kensal Rise? Check with whoever drove the car last before leaving, rather than once the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever in Greater London the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Not in a rush on the side of High Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off properly.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft and it does the trick.
- The two under a single flap? Then make sure the lid on the diesel filler is still closed before raising the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, tip slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — confirm the diesel filler stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the vehicle.
Stop there if you find, at stage two or three, that you've already poured into your diesel side. Skip step five altogether.
Put AdBlue in the diesel tank around Willesden already?
The short order of things, beginning with not starting your engine. Keep the ignition off as well, because on many diesels it by itself starts the fuel pump. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from — so do not top up with diesel to dilute it.
On a forecourt — Shell, Esso or any other — the attendants will normally help push the car clear, when you ask. If you're on your own drive in Willesden, leave it where it sits.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe and switch off. Willesden lies under 3 miles from the M1; there, take the next exit. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Westminster, under 10 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Willesden.
Willesden: what takes place when our engineers turn up
Our engineers come to the car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside St Andrew and St Francis CofE Primary School, close to St Andrew the Apostle CofE or on your own drive. The answers determine this work and our quote, and so we ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it has run. During the phone call itself, you are told our price — before dispatch.
Draining that tank comes next, followed by a thorough flush of your system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and neither washes out unaided. Hence it matters more. The filter cleaned or, if needed, replaced; fresh diesel in; then a check of your vehicle. We do not go until it has been fired up and is running correctly.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once we arrive, as long as the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our engineers use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet after dark outside a house. Nothing upfront; you settle up on the day. At the end, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. It's worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Willesden, for a moment
Willesden is a locality in northwest London, situated approximately 5.4 miles from central London and 5.7 miles from Westminster. Willesden sits at an elevation of around 49 metres, characterised by a high proportion of flat dwellings. Willesden is surrounded by nearby places such as Willesden Green, Dudden Hill, and Church End, and has a population of around 13,110 residents. Willesden forms part of the broader London urban landscape, with a mix of residential and commercial areas.
AdBlue drains in Willesden and across Greater London
Willesden is a small village, and the teams that cover it also work the towns around it, Dudden Hill and Church End among them, across the NW postcode area. Fastest of all: quote a NW2 5 postcode to the van.
Shifting your car is not needed. We drain it where it is — a side street near St Mary Magdalen RC Church, a lay-by on the way to Willesden Community Gardens, a drive. Assuming doesn't help behind Willesden Green Baptist Church, on a boundary, or anywhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
In short, for Willesden people
Tip no AdBlue till you have read the cap. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave the vehicle switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, throughout Greater London.