Preventing AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Wyke: Why It Happens
AdBlue already in your diesel tank? Then set this page down a moment, leave your ignition and motor off, then ring 0333 366 0103. Caught before the engine runs, it is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Wyke. Reading before the event? Then what follows covers why it comes about and how to stop it ever happening.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel motor need its own filler?
Diesel goes to the engine — but plenty of modern diesels driven round Wyke and Flexford hold another liquid too. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Every tank comes with a filler of its own. Other motors put the AdBlue filler in the boot or under the bonnet; a lot of others place both side by side under one flap. At the petrol pump, the diesel side is topped up constantly. Much less frequently, the AdBlue side gets topped up — normally from a bottle, by a person thinking about where it goes. Mistakes happen in the gap between the two.
How AdBlue in your diesel tank occurs around Wyke
It is rarely carelessness. Three things tend to line up.
The warning comes first. As AdBlue runs low the vehicle tells you, and if it runs out completely, the car goes into limp mode. So the top-up is done in a hurry: on a drive off Wyke Avenue before work, or in the car park at The Lion Brewery on the way home.
Next, your hand reaches for the cap it would have used on the old car — since a rental car, a new car or a company car places the fillers somewhere your last one did not.
A spout-topped bottle finds no obstacle at a diesel filler no more than at an AdBlue one. So the pour, once started, carries on. Whether it happens in Ash Green or the middle of Wyke, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and the diesel filler: telling them apart
Before you pour anything, whether on a driveway in Ash Vale or a forecourt in Wyke, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Colour and marking: an AdBlue cap is often blue, or says "AdBlue", where a diesel cap normally does not. Go by the cap, not where it sits.
- On many cars, the size gives it away: AdBlue gets the smaller filler neck.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Plenty of vehicles say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook. If the filler is not by the diesel cap, it's in your boot or under the bonnet, and the handbook says which.
- Picking up a hire or company car, say at the car park at Ash? Ask the person who drove the car last before you set off, not when the light goes on.
Topping up AdBlue without it reaching your diesel tank
Anywhere across Surrey the light comes on, here is a routine for that day.
- Pull in on level, engine off, with time to spare — not hurried on the side of Wyke Lane.
- Find the AdBlue filler and read the cap. Say "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly and it does the trick.
- If both sit under one flap, check your diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — and leave it on.
- Finish once that tank fills or the bottle is empty; before that, pour slowly through its built-in spout.
- Close the cap and check a second time. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the vehicle.
If at step two or three you find you have already poured into your diesel side, stop there. Never carry on to step five.
Already put AdBlue in the diesel tank in Wyke?
The short order of things, starting with no starting the engine. The fuel pump starts on plenty of diesels as soon as the ignition is switched on — and so keep it off. Filling up with diesel won't dilute it: rather than mixing, AdBlue sinks to the base of the tank, just where fuel is taken from.
If you are at a forecourt, whether it's the JET or the BP, ask the attendants to help roll your car away from the pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Wyke.
When your engine has been run already, pull over safely and switch it off. On the M3, under 5 miles from Wyke, that means the next junction. A short hop across Wyke is a smaller job than a run towards Chichester, under 50 miles away, so tell us about how far it went.
What takes place when we turn up in Wyke
Our van reaches the car wherever it stopped — your own driveway, beside Ash Manor, or outside Ash Grange Nursery and Primary School. Both the work and the price depend on three replies — which fluid, what amount, and if it has run — so our engineers ask. During the phone call itself, you hear our quote — before anything else.
The system is then flushed thoroughly, once your tank is emptied. With AdBlue that counts more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own. A test comes at the end: before that, fresh diesel is added, and your filter is cleaned or replaced as needed. Next we fire it up and make sure it runs smoothly before leaving.
Unstarted vehicles usually need a half-hour job from the moment we arrive. The kit is fine on a live forecourt, and hushed enough for a residential street late at night. You pay on the day, with nothing upfront, and get a VAT invoice and an engineer report for your insurer. It's worth looking at your policy while we travel to you: misfuelling cover comes with plenty of policies.
About Wyke
Wyke is a small village in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of around 80 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Wyke lies approximately 30 miles from London and is close to nearby places such as Ash Green, Ash, and Normandy. Wyke has a population of around 555 residents and is near the city of Chichester, which is about 29 miles away. Wyke remains a quiet residential community with a rural character.
AdBlue drains around Wyke, and Surrey beyond
Throughout GU postcodes, our vans covering Wyke — a rural village — work the nearby places too, Normandy and Ash included. A postcode starting GU12 6 gets our van to you fastest.
Shifting the car is not necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near St Peter's Centre, a lay-by on the way to Harpers Recreation Ground, a drive. Assuming won't help at the back of St Peter's Ash, close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe; phone and check.
The short version for Wyke drivers
Before you tip, read the cap. If AdBlue has gone in your diesel tank regardless, leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103. Petrol in Diesel drains it where it waits, anywhere across Surrey.