AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bolney? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does the motor. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and no harm happens till the motor pulls it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Bolney, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your engine has run. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bolney
Do:
- Pocket the keys, which stops someone turning the electrics on.
- Near moving traffic? Then put the hazard lights on.
- Which fluid, and about how much quantity? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and our engineers can know.
- Give us a postcode starting RH17 5, or whatever street lies closest, and the van finds you straight — so call from wherever you stand.
Things not to do:
- Don't start your motor, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- Turning your key to ignition alone sets your pump going on many diesels. Avoid it.
- Adding more diesel does not work: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Don't drive it anywhere, not even a short way along The Street.
- By the road, do not attempt emptying it on your own.
At a forecourt around Bolney, whether it is the Merco or another one, ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump. On your own driveway, do not touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the engine. From a separate reservoir it is fed directly to the exhaust, cleaning what your engine lets out. A fuel pump isn't designed to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Tipped in with the diesel, it stays apart rather than mixing — quite unlike fuel. Denser than diesel, it sinks and collects underneath it — the same place the pickup sucks from. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Until then it waits beneath your diesel, which is why a vehicle filled in Ansty yesterday and not started remains the straightforward one, provided nobody touches the key.
From there it does two kinds of damage. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and narrow passages; meanwhile, since it eats at some metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it stays in there. Where the AdBlue is in the pipework, leaving it overnight in Bolney makes things worse. Inside your tank alone, time costs nothing. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it passes; water gives none of that, and that is a second form of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger problem?
Top up a diesel with petrol in error over at the Esso, and this issue is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and while it is in that tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running the engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Since it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits back out — and the next fill won't clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters for more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Bolney or out in Hickstead, costs more than nearly any other mistake.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue waits just in that tank, the easiest bit of the entire system to clear, anywhere the vehicle has stopped across West Sussex.
Bolney: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Plenty of vehicles place the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel cap, now and then behind a single flap, and after dark the two can look identical. Nobody means it. It usually happens at home, from a bottle bought on the journey home, rather than at the filling station.
Mostly, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. Rushing, outside Bolney CofE Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, a parent tops up the car. Close to Cherry Lane, someone pours a container in on the drive after work. Else, in dim light by The Eight Bells, your vehicle is topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
It happens most in the motors drivers know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Same slip, an identical first response — leave it off — wherever you are around Bolney or the rest of West Sussex.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bolney, and the motor started?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. The fuel filter and lines have had it pulled along, and any running time carries it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any might appear, perhaps part way across Bolney or returning from Bolney Wood. Pull over when it is safe. Turn off. Leave the vehicle off rather than testing it again. Each start pulls more of it through.
On the M23, under 10 miles from Bolney, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Bolney to the car park by St Mary Magdalene's is a very different job from a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with each mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Once the motor has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has ended up. Spotted soon, it very seldom leaves long-term damage.
Bolney: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
A street beside Ansty Social Club, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere your vehicle has stopped around Bolney, our engineers travel to it. What went in, roughly the quantity, plus if the motor has been run: our technicians check before all else, because those shape the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one after your tank is emptied, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the whole system is cleaned all the way through since what remains won't wash away by itself. Clean diesel goes in after your filter is flushed — or replaced, when it needs to be — and then the vehicle is tested. Not run? In that case expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Finally, your system is bled with new diesel. You head off as soon as our engineers have started the car, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive in Bolney or in a space outside Wivelsfield. Our engineers make sure it runs properly on clean diesel before we go. We do it all wherever the vehicle has stopped, and it never needs to be taken to a workshop. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Bolney
Bolney is a small village in West Sussex, situated inland at an elevation of 44 metres, approximately 12 miles north of Brighton and Hove. Bolney has a population of around 637 people, with predominantly detached housing. Bolney is close to nearby places such as Crosspost, Twineham Green, and Warninglid, and is about 35 miles south of London. Bolney remains a quiet rural community with a strong sense of local identity.
AdBlue drains in Bolney and across West Sussex
Over the RH postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue jobs around Bolney serve much of West Sussex as well, Crosspost, Twineham Green and Warninglid included. Assuming won't help close to a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; phone and check.
Anywhere the car sits — a drive at home, a residential street, a car park, a forecourt — our technicians drain it on the spot, with no need to bring it to us; which suits Bolney, a rural village, well.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Bolney
Not one flat figure would be fair, because each job is different. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where the vehicle is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind Seaforth Hall.
That is why each call from Bolney starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and if it's run. Their answers narrow the range down to one figure.
Priced by phone before the engineer heads out, the job is settled on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Look at your insurance whilst we are on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
Bolney: still beside the vehicle?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your car is to leave it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus if it ran is all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest throughout West Sussex, Bolney too.