AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Wokingham: Why It Happens and How to Avoid It
Stop here a minute if the diesel tank already holds AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, then call 0333 366 0103. Caught before your motor runs, it is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Wokingham. The remainder of this page explains why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't — useful if you're reading ahead of time.
Two fillers, two tanks: AdBlue in a diesel motor
Not one liquid but two: that's how plenty of modern diesels around Wokingham and Eastheath carry, with diesel for the motor. Kept in a tank of its own, AdBlue is fed into the exhaust gas to clean it.
There is a filler on every tank. Plenty of cars share a single flap for the two, whereas others put the AdBlue filler to your boot or under the bonnet. Filling the diesel side at the petrol pump happens all the time. The AdBlue side is fuelled far less regularly, usually from a bottle, and usually by a person who has to stop and think where it goes. That gap is where the slip lives.
How does AdBlue in the diesel tank take place in Wokingham?
Carelessness seldom causes it. What does is three things lining up together.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the vehicle goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Denmark Street before work, or in the car park at The Red Lion on the way home.
Then the car is unfamiliar. A hire car, a new vehicle or a company car puts the fillers where your last one did not, and the hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old one.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler any more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, keeps on. The same few seconds settle it, in the middle of Wokingham or out in Chapel Green.
Telling the AdBlue filler from your diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Emmbrook or a forecourt around Wokingham, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Blue and lettering: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap usually does not. Trust the cap, not where it sits.
- The size. On plenty of motors the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two.
- A label inside the fuel flap frequently shows which fuel goes where, on plenty of vehicles. Check for it.
- Cannot see it next to your diesel filler? Then look below the bonnet or inside the boot — the handbook says where.
- The previous driver knows. Ask when you collect a hire car or fleet car — from the nearest station's car park, say — not when the warning appears.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank
Wherever around Berkshire the light comes on, this is a routine for that day.
- Turn off after you park — flat ground, engine off, and not in a rush beside Broad Street on the verge.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and speak the name "AdBlue" aloud while unscrewing it. It seems daft. It does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the vehicle on.
- Finish when that tank is topped up or the bottle runs dry; before that, tip slowly using the own spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure the diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, in Wokingham?
Then the order of things is short. Do not start your motor. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels the moment your ignition is switched on — so keep it off. AdBlue does not mix with diesel — it sinks to the bottom of the tank, where your fuel is sucked from — so don't top up with diesel to dilute it.
Ask the staff to help push the car clear of the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the Shell, the BP or anywhere else. At home in Wokingham? So the vehicle stays put.
Stop as soon as it is safe then switch off, if your motor has already run. On the A329(M), under 3 miles from Wokingham, that means the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Crossing Wokingham is less work than a run of under 50 miles to Oxford, so say.
When our technicians get there around Wokingham, what happens?
By St Teresa's Catholic Academy, close to Town Hall or on your own drive: wherever the car has stopped, we come to it. Our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and if it has run, because those replies determine the work and our price. On the phone call itself, you hear the price — ahead of anything else.
After that: draining, then a thorough flush of the entire system. Not like petrol, AdBlue leaves crystals and eats at certain fuel-system metals, and neither washes away by itself. That is why it matters more. A test comes last: before that, clean diesel is added, and your filter is flushed or changed if necessary. The engine is started next and tested to make sure it runs correctly, all before our engineers head off.
If your motor hasn't run, most 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. Nothing in advance; you settle up that day. Afterwards, the VAT invoice and a report from the engineer are handed to you for the insurer. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Wokingham itself
Wokingham is a town in Berkshire, situated on the banks of the River Loddon, with a relatively low elevation of 74 metres. Wokingham lies approximately 31 miles west of London and is close to several smaller settlements, including Chapel Green, Matthewsgreen, and Dowlesgreen. Wokingham has a population of around 21,000 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Wokingham is also near the city of Oxford, which is about 30 miles away.
Wokingham and Berkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over RG postcodes, the teams that cover Wokingham — a riverside town — work the nearby locations too, Dowlesgreen and Matthewsgreen included. A postcode starting RG40 1 gets the van to you fastest.
Shifting your car isn't necessary. A driveway, a lay-by on the way to Howard Palmer Gardens, a side street close to Methodist Church: we drain the car where it is. Ring and ask instead of guessing if you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, like the back of The Salvation Army - Wokingham.
Wokingham motorists: the short version
Always, the cap; after that, the pour. AdBlue in the diesel tank regardless? Leave it off then call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Berkshire.