Abbotswood: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the fuel system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Abbotswood, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before the engine has been run. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Abbotswood, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Things to do:
- So nobody can switch the ignition on, take the keys away.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- So you can give us which liquid it was and about how much, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call right where you are. Quote a GU1 1 postcode or the nearest street sign, and no one has to search for you.
Things not to do:
- No starting your engine — not briefly, not to shift the vehicle.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not weaken it.
- Don't drive it anywhere, not even a short distance up Westward Ho.
- Emptying that tank on your own beside the road isn't one to try.
Get the attendants to help you roll the car away from the pumps if you're at a forecourt in Abbotswood, whether it's the BP or somewhere else. On your own driveway, do not touch it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
The motor isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Its own tank holds it, and from there it is fed into your exhaust, and there it treats the fumes. Nothing in an injection pump is made for this liquid — and none of it was intended to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. The intake takes fuel from the deepest part of that tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue ends up: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. Simplest of all: one that got AdBlue in Bushy Hill overnight and hasn't been started since. The liquid sits at the foot of that tank, undrawn — but it will be first through once your engine starts, before any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of harm from there. What is left once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in tiny passages and clog filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in a fuel system, and carries on till it's flushed out. Pipes carrying AdBlue mean harm by morning for a car sitting in Abbotswood. Just in that tank, it stays the same. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, which is a separate kind of damage.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is often worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Sainsbury's's forecourt makes your fuel thin — that's the whole fault. It mixes with the diesel, and while it is in the tank it causes no damage; the harm comes from running the engine on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is simply the wrong one. It does not burn, so it cannot simply be run through. Nor can it be watered down, because it separates again — and the next tankful will not clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more with AdBlue, and trying the engine "to see", in the centre of Abbotswood or out in Bellfields, costs more than almost any other mistake.
As with petrol, there is good news. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever around Surrey the vehicle has stopped.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Abbotswood?
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel cap, now and then behind one flap — can appear the same. No one means it; many layouts invite it. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Rushing, outside Boxgrove Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, a parent refills your car. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Abbotswood Close. Or your car is topped up in the car park at Anchor and Horseshoes, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
Hired vehicles, brand-new vehicles, fleet motors, or the spare car in a family with both fuels: the least familiar vehicles get it most. Wherever in Surrey, Abbotswood as well, the slip does not change, and neither does the first step: keep it switched off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Abbotswood, and your engine started?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. It's been pulled through the fuel filter and your lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and your injectors.
You may see your motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Thorneycroft Wood or halfway across Abbotswood. No starting it again to test: pull over when safe, then turn it off. Each start pulls more of that through.
On the M25, under 10 miles from Abbotswood, the first junction is where to leave, and anywhere sensible is where to park — not carrying on.
Mileage matters: every mile carries the AdBlue further into your system, and so driving towards Westminster, under 50 miles away, makes a far bigger job than crossing Abbotswood to the car park by Guildford Model Engineering Society. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the motor has been running. If it is noticed soon, permanent damage is very unusual.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Abbotswood: what it takes
The vehicle remains put, whether that's a road near The Pavilion, Old Guildfordians Club, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt around Abbotswood, and our van travels to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and whether the engine has been run, since those replies settle this work.
Right there, that tank is then drained, and both the polluted diesel and the urea leave as one. The fuel system is purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Engine not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to bleed the fuel system on fresh diesel. Starting the engine comes next, and then you drive off from where the vehicle is parked, by London Road (Guildford) or on a driveway in Abbotswood. The test before our engineers head off is that it runs properly on fresh diesel. No workshop is required at any stage, with the entire job done then and there. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Abbotswood
Abbotswood is a suburban area in Surrey, situated near the River Wey and characterised by its detached housing stock. Abbotswood sits at an elevation of 48 metres, with nearby places including Slyfield, Burpham, and Merrow. Abbotswood is located approximately 25 miles from central London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Abbotswood has a population of around 2681 residents, who enjoy the area's riverside setting.
AdBlue drains across Abbotswood and Surrey
Our vans that answer AdBlue call-outs in Abbotswood also cover the locations around it, Slyfield, Burpham and Merrow among them, and most of Surrey beyond, across the GU postcode area. Close to a border, or somewhere awkward to explain? Checking beats assuming, and so ring.
Abbotswood is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it sits, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
Abbotswood: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no fair single price, because the jobs are not the same. What changes the cost is, first of all, whether the motor has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and then where the vehicle is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Guildford Spectrum.
Which fluid was put in, what quantity, plus whether it ran: every Abbotswood call opens with precisely those, ahead of a quote, not afterwards. With those replies, a range shrinks to a single firm figure.
You hear that price on the phone, before anybody heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Check your policy whilst we're on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
Abbotswood: still next to your car?
Then, touch nothing — that's the best move available. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, across Abbotswood or anywhere in Surrey, once you call 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether it ran.