Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Windsor: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? In that case set this page down a moment, keep the ignition and engine off, and ring 0333 366 0103. Around Windsor, catching it before your motor runs usually leaves a drain and a full flush on the spot. The rest of this page explains why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — useful if you are reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Diesel feeds the engine — yet many current diesels driven about Windsor and Clewer New Town hold a second fluid as well. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it goes to the exhaust, where a spray treats the fumes.
Different tanks, different fillers. Some cars keep the AdBlue filler in your boot or under the bonnet; a lot more place both together under one flap. At the petrol pump, your diesel side gets filled all the time. Far less often, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. The mistake grows in that gap between them.
How does AdBlue in your diesel tank occur in Windsor?
Carelessness seldom explains it. Instead is three things lining up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the car tells you, and if it runs out altogether, your vehicle drops into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a driveway off William Street before work, or in the car park outside The Queen Victoria on the way home.
The old car's filler is where the hand reaches — but a rental car, a new car or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That is a second factor: an unfamiliar vehicle.
No part stops the tip after it has started, because a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as easily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it takes place in Eton or the middle of Windsor, it's the same few seconds.
How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one
Look at these first, on a forecourt around Windsor or a driveway over in Clewer Green. Seconds, no more.
- Position can mislead; the cap does not. AdBlue caps are often blue or bear the word "AdBlue" — diesel ones normally don't.
- Check the size: the smaller neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- Lift the flap and check for a label — plenty of cars show what goes in which filler right there.
- The handbook says which it is if your filler is not next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Picking up a hire or company car, perhaps at the car park outside Windsor & Eton Central? Check with the person who drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
Keeping AdBlue out of your diesel tank when you top up
The day the light comes on, wherever in Berkshire, use this routine.
- Not in a rush on the side of Alexandra Road, not on a slope, not with the motor running: park and switch off first.
- Daft as it sounds, saying "AdBlue" aloud while you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you've located your filler and read the cap.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave the vehicle on.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start your car.
Discover during the second or third stage that AdBlue went into the wrong filler? That is where you stop. Don't go on to stage five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Windsor?
Brief list, then. Top of it: your motor stays off. The fuel pump runs on many diesels the moment your ignition goes on — so keep it off. Filling up with diesel won't thin it: instead, AdBlue sinks to the bottom of the tank, just where the fuel is taken from.
Ask the staff to help roll the car away from the pump if you are at a forecourt — the BP, the Shell or anywhere else. Your own driveway around Windsor is where it should stay.
If the engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Windsor sits under 3 miles from the M4; there, take the next junction. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Windsor.
Our arrival in Windsor, and what happens next
Our engineers come to your car wherever it has stopped, whether that's outside Trinity St Stephen CofE Aided First School, near Baptist Chapel or on your own drive. Those replies settle this work and our price, so we ask what got in, roughly how much, and whether it's run. That price is given over the phone, ahead of any van leaving.
Then the tank is emptied and your system cleaned thoroughly. Unlike petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at some fuel-system metals, and none of it washes out by itself. That is why it counts more. Once your filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where required — fresh diesel goes in, and then your car is tested. Next we fire it up and confirm it runs correctly before we go.
Most jobs are done in roughly half an hour once we arrive, as long as the motor hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are fine on a busy forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. No money in advance; you settle up on the day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and the report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. While we travel, take a look at your policy; plenty carry cover for misfuelling.
About Windsor, for a moment
Windsor is a historic town in Berkshire, situated on the River Thames at an elevation of around 30 metres. Windsor sits approximately 20.9 miles west of central London, with nearby places including Eton, Clewer Village, and Spital. Windsor has a population of around 15994 people, predominantly residing in flats. Windsor is characterized by its riverside setting and proximity to the capital city.
AdBlue drains around Windsor and across Berkshire
Throughout SL postcodes, the vans that cover Windsor — a riverside town — work the surrounding locations too, Spital and Clewer Village among them. Quickest of all: give a SL4 1 postcode to our van.
The car does not need to shift. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Bachelors Acre, a side street near Christ Church URC: our technicians drain the car where it is. Assuming won't help at the back of Windsor Library, close to a boundary, or somewhere awkward to pin down; ring and check.
The short version for Windsor motorists
Read the cap before you pour. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, anywhere across Berkshire, if AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank all the same — so leave the car off and call 0333 366 0103.