Addington: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and no harm happens till the motor pulls it round. If the engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly flushed where your car stands in Addington. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Addington, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Do these:
- Keys out — then no one can switch anything on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Which product, and roughly what amount? Save the bottle or the receipt, and our engineers can see.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting ME19 5, or just the name of a street nearby, and so call from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Don't start your motor, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Many diesels run their pump the instant your ignition comes on, and so leave the vehicle off.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short distance down Plowenders Close is too far to drive it.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
The attendants working at any Addington forecourt — the BP among them — will usually lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. On your own driveway, don't move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your engine. From a dedicated tank it goes straight to your exhaust, treating what the engine lets out. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. The behaviour is nothing like fuel's. The pickup takes fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that is precisely where AdBlue settles: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Tower Hill last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
From there it does two kinds of harm. It attacks certain metals found in fuel systems, attacking any part it reaches until it is cleared from your system. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and lodge in tiny passages. Pipes carrying AdBlue mean harm by morning for a vehicle parked around Addington. Only in that tank, it stays stable. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water offers no lubrication, which is a separate kind of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger issue?
Put petrol in a diesel at the JET and you have an issue of thin fuel. Harm only comes from driving on it. Blended into your diesel and left in your tank, it does nothing.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is simply the wrong one. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Whether the car sits in Wrotham Heath or the heart of Addington, firing it up "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other slip, and the flush matters more. The reasons: it won't remain mixed, and so diluting it fails; and deposits and corrosion outlast the next fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever around Kent the vehicle has stopped.
Addington: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Plenty of vehicles put the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then behind one flap, and after dark the two can look the same. Nobody means it. It usually occurs at home, from a bottle grabbed en route home, not at the forecourt.
Usually, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Offham Primary School the refill is hurried. Close to East Street, a driver tips a bottle in at home in the evening. Or someone new to that flap tops up the vehicle after dark, stopped in the car park outside The Angel.
Rented cars, new motors, fleet vehicles, or the spare car in a family with both fuels: the least familiar cars get it most. Keep it off: that is the first step to the same mistake, wherever around Addington or the rest of Kent you are.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Addington, and your engine started?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. The fuel filter and pipework have had it pulled through, and any running time carries it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: each may appear, maybe midway across Addington or returning from West Malling Golf Course. No restarting to test: pull over when it is safe, then switch it off. Every start pulls more of it through.
Addington lies under a mile from the M20; if you were on it, leave by the first junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Distance counts: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system, so driving for Southend-on-Sea, under 25 miles away, makes a far bigger job than crossing Addington to the car park by St Margaret. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once the motor has run, and we do all of it where your car has stopped. Long-term damage is very rare if it's noticed early.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Addington
Our engineers come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Addington: a side street near Addington Long Barrow, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three replies decide the job, so before anything else we ask what went in, about what quantity, and if the engine has run.
Then your tank is drained where the car stands, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing counts: the fuel system is flushed right through since residue will not wash out by itself. A test of your vehicle follows at the end, once fresh diesel goes in and your filter is flushed or, if needed, replaced. If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once we arrive. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
New diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the last step. Whether it is a parking space by West Malling or a driveway in Addington, that is where our engineers start the car and you set off. The test before our technicians head off is that it runs correctly on fresh diesel. Our engineers do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never has to go to a garage. At the end, you are given the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Addington
Addington is a small village in Kent, situated inland at an elevation of 48 metres, and is located near the villages of Ryarsh, Offham, and New Town. Addington has a population of approximately 547 residents and comprises predominantly detached housing. Addington is within commuting distance of London, being around 25.9 miles from the city, and is also close to the nearest city of Southend-on-Sea, which is 21.7 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Kent, Addington included
Ryarsh, Offham and New Town are among the places near Addington that the same vans serve, together with much of Kent further out, over the ME postcode area. Assuming won't help by a county line or anywhere tricky to describe; ring and ask.
A van that comes to you suits Addington, a rural village: you have no need to take the car to us, because our engineers drain it there, in a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Addington: the cost of fixing it
Every job differs, so not one fixed quote is fair. Three things move the cost: whether the engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where your car is. That last one comes down to whether our van can reach it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight spot behind Chestnuts Long Barrow.
Before any quote, never after, each call from Addington begins with the same three checks: the fuel, the amount, and if the engine ran. Given those replies, the range narrows to one firm number.
Before anyone heads out, you are told our quote by phone. Then you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As our engineer is travelling, dig out your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
In Addington and still alongside the car?
Not touching the car is, then, the most useful thing open to you. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, across Addington or anywhere within Kent, once you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether the engine ran.