AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Windlesham: Why It Occurs and How to Avoid It
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page aside a moment, leave the ignition and motor off, then call 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your engine hasn't turned, it is emptied and fully purged where the vehicle is around Windlesham. Not happened yet? Further down, the page explains the reasons it happens and the how to prevent it altogether.
AdBlue in a diesel motor, and its separate tank
Many modern diesels in New England, like those in Windlesham, run on two liquids; the engine takes only the diesel. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
Every tank has one filler of its own. On a lot of vehicles the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. The diesel side is fuelled at the petrol pump all the time. A driver who has to stop and think where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and much less regularly. It's in the gap that the slip happens.
Windlesham: how AdBlue in the diesel tank occurs
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things line up.
First, the warning. Low AdBlue brings a message from the car, and running dry means limp mode — so a rushed top-up, maybe before work off Updown Hill, or at The Sun on the way home that evening.
Unfamiliar motors are next, as well. Hire cars, new cars and company motors put their fillers in new places, and the hand reaches for the cap it used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in as easily, and after the tip begins, no part stops it. It's seconds, whether in Hatton Hill or right in the heart of Windlesham.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Be it a Windlesham forecourt or a drive out in Bagshot, take a few seconds on these before any goes in.
- Read the cap instead of going by position: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel ones usually aren't.
- On plenty of vehicles, the size tells: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- A label inside the fuel flap often says which fuel goes where, on plenty of cars. Check for it.
- Can't see it next to the diesel inlet? In that case look beneath the bonnet or in the boot — the handbook says where.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park at Bagshot? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, rather than when the light comes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever around Surrey the light comes on, this is a routine for the day.
- Not in a rush on the side of Chertsey Road, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park then switch off properly.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the car on.
- Finish once that tank is topped up or the bottle is empty; before that, tip gently through the own spout.
- Shut the cap, then look again — confirm the diesel filler remained closed throughout. After that, start the car.
Find at step two or three that it has already gone into your diesel side? So stop just there. Stage five is off limits.
Windlesham: already put AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start the engine. On plenty of diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, so don't switch the car on. AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where the fuel is drawn from — so don't top up with diesel to thin it.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the BP or the Esso, ask the staff to help roll the vehicle away from the pump. At home in Windlesham? So the vehicle stays put.
Already run? Stop once it's safe, then turn off. Windlesham sits under a mile from the M3; there, take the first junction. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Windlesham is smaller a job than a run of under 25 miles towards Westminster, so tell us.
When our engineers get there around Windlesham, what takes place?
Wherever the car came to rest, be it outside Windlesham Village Infant School, near Chertsey Road Hall or on your own drive, the van travels to it. We ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it has run, since those replies determine the work and the price. Nobody sets off until you've heard our price over the phone.
Then the tank is drained and your system flushed thoroughly. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own — which is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Before leaving, our technicians start the engine and confirm that it's running correctly.
If the motor hasn't run, the majority of 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. Payment happens on the day, not upfront, and you receive the documents your insurer asks for: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It is worth checking your insurance as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with plenty of policies.
About Windlesham
Windlesham is a locality in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of 53 metres, approximately 24.7 miles from London. Windlesham is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting the area's residential nature. Windlesham is close to nearby places such as Hatton Hill, Lightwater, and Brick Hill, and is part of the wider South East region. Windlesham has a population of around 2405 people.
AdBlue drains around Windlesham, and Surrey beyond
Being a small village, Windlesham has the same vans as surrounding places — Lightwater, Brick Hill — right across GU postcodes and the wider area beyond. Give a postcode that starts GU20 6, and our van gets there quickest.
Shifting the vehicle isn't needed. Anywhere it sits — near Windlesham Club and Theatre, in a lay-by heading to Windlesham Park, at home — that is where it is drained. If you're close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe like the back of St John the Baptist, Windlesham, ring and ask instead of guessing.
The short version for Windlesham motorists
First, the cap; then, the pour. If AdBlue has gone in the diesel tank anyway, leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel clears it where it sits, anywhere across Surrey.