Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bermondsey
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does your engine. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing starts till your engine sucks it through. If your engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually emptied and thoroughly purged where the car sits in Bermondsey. First, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Bermondsey: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Keys out — then nobody can power anything on.
- Near moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting SE1 3, or the name of the closest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll your vehicle: the motor stays off.
- Turning your key to ignition by itself starts the pump running on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- Pouring in extra diesel does not help: AdBlue separates out instead of blending.
- Even a short distance down Bacon Grove is too far to drive it.
- Emptying your tank on your own beside the road isn't one to try.
Ask the attendants to help you move the car off the pumps if you're on a forecourt around Bermondsey, whether it is the Tesco or elsewhere. On that drive, the car remains exactly where it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it's sprayed into the exhaust, and there it treats the gas. Nothing inside a fuel pump is made for this liquid — and none of that was meant to travel that way.
It does not combine. After it's poured into the tank, AdBlue behaves nothing like fuel. Denser than diesel, it drops and pools below it — the same place the intake draws from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Wapping last night and hasn't been started since. The liquid sits at the foot of your tank, undrawn — though it will be first through if your engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and tiny channels; meanwhile, because it attacks some metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it stays inside. Overnight, a vehicle sitting around Bermondsey with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; where it is only inside the tank, it doesn't. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector need diesel running through them, and so the water content harms them in its own right.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more major than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error at the Esso, and the problem is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and while it is in the tank it causes no damage; the damage comes from running the motor on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It does not burn, and so it can't simply be run through. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits again — and the following fill won't clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and turning your key "to see", in the heart of Bermondsey or out in Southwark, does more harm than nearly any other error.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue waits only in the tank, the simplest bit of the whole system to empty, wherever your vehicle has come to rest around Greater London.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Bermondsey: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of motors waits right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Usually it's not the forecourt: someone picks up a bottle heading home and pours it in outside the house.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Boutcher Church of England Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Spa Road. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at The Grange Pub & Kitchen, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
The least known vehicles get it most — hire cars, new ones, fleet cars, and the spare car in a home with both fuel types. Leave it switched off: that is the first response to the same mistake, anywhere in Bermondsey or the remainder of Greater London you happen to be.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Bermondsey?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. The filter and lines have had it pulled along, and some running takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each may appear, perhaps part way across Bermondsey or returning from Bermondsey Spa Gardens. When safe, pull over and switch it off — without restarting to test. Each start pulls more of it through.
Bermondsey lies under 10 miles from the M11; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and pull up safely rather than driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into your system. That is why a hop across Bermondsey to park near Banksy - Choose your weapon and a drive of under 3 miles towards London are such different jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There is more to rinse out once your engine has been started, and our technicians do all of it where your car has ended up. Noticed soon, it very seldom leaves long-term damage.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Bermondsey
Our technicians come to the car, wherever it has stopped in Bermondsey: a side street close to Tannery Arts, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our engineers ask what got in, about how much, and whether your engine has run, since those answers decide the work.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. A careful flush matters far more after AdBlue than after petrol, since residue will not wash out on its own. After that, the fuel filter: cleaned, or changed when it has to be. After that clean diesel, then a check of the car. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs where your engine hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Priming your system with new diesel comes last. You drive off as soon as we have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a driveway around Bermondsey or in a space at London Bridge. We check it runs smoothly on new diesel before we leave. Our engineers do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never needs to go to a workshop. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Bermondsey itself
Bermondsey is a locality in south London, situated on the River Thames at an elevation of around 4 metres. Bermondsey sits close to the city centre, approximately 2.4 miles from central London, and is near other areas such as Walworth and Tower Hill. Bermondsey is predominantly composed of flat dwellings, reflecting its urban character. Bermondsey has a population of around 11964 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains across Bermondsey and Greater London
Walworth, Tower Hill and The Borough are among the places around Bermondsey that the same teams serve, along with most of Greater London beyond, over the SE postcode area. If you are near a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
A mobile service suits Bermondsey, a neighbourhood: there's no need to bring the car to us, because our engineers empty it there, in a drive, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
Bermondsey: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no honest single quote, because the jobs are not the same. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that got in. After that it rests on where the car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Kagyu Samye Dzong London.
Which fluid was put in, how much, and whether the engine ran: each Bermondsey call begins with precisely that, ahead of a quote, never afterwards. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
The price is quoted during the call, before anyone sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours while we are on the way.
In Bermondsey and still beside your car?
Right now, the best thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, across Bermondsey or wherever within Greater London, after you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether the engine ran.