AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Boreham? Keep It Switched Off
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, leave the engine off then leave your ignition off. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and no harm starts until your motor pulls it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Boreham, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the motor has run. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do straight away, Boreham: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Things to do:
- Keys out — then nobody can power anything on.
- Close to moving traffic? So put the hazards on.
- Hold on to the till receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting CM3 3, or the name of the closest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the moment your ignition comes on, and so keep the car off.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, and so it is pointless.
- Even a short stretch down Main Road is too far to drive the car.
- Don't try to drain the car yourself by the roadside.
On a forecourt in Boreham, whether it is the BP or another one, ask the staff to help you roll your car away from the pump. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle just where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your motor. Its own tank holds it, and from there it's fed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the gas. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. Heavier than diesel, it sinks and collects below it — the same place the intake sucks from. A motor filled on a driveway in Chelmer Village yesterday evening and not started since is the simple case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — though when the motor turns, that's what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
From there it does two kinds of harm. It attacks certain metals used in fuel systems, attacking whatever it touches till it is cleared completely. And once the water evaporates, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and settle in tiny channels. If the AdBlue is in the pipework, waiting overnight in Boreham makes things worse. In your tank only, time does nothing. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel running through them, and so the water content harms them by itself.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
Petrol put into a diesel on Sainsbury's's forecourt leaves your fuel thin — that's the whole issue. Blended into the diesel and sitting still, it's no threat for now; running your engine is the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It does not burn, so it cannot just be run through. Nor can it be thinned, since it separates again — and the next tankful will not clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters more here, and trying the engine "to see", in the heart of Boreham or out in Springfield, does more harm than almost any other mistake.
The good news is the same as with petrol. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still inside that tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Essex the vehicle is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Boreham
It is not deliberate. Many cars have the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. It mostly happens outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, not at the forecourt.
Usually, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside Boreham Primary School the top-up is rushed. A driver tips the container in outside their house, just off Shearers Way, as the day ends. Else, in dim light outside The Six Bells, your vehicle gets refilled by someone opening that flap the first time.
It crops up the most in a rental, a new car, a fleet motor, or the other motor of a home with both fuel types — the cars people know the least. Same slip, an identical first step — leave it off — anywhere you happen to be around Boreham or the rest of Essex.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Boreham?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. Through the fuel filter, along the lines, and — given any running time — into the injection pump and each injector: that is how far it travels.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: each may appear, maybe midway across Boreham or returning from Boreham Recreation Ground. Stop when it is safe. Switch off. Keep it off instead of restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
If you were on the M11, under 25 miles from Boreham, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into your system. That's why crossing Boreham to park beside Boreham Village Sign and a drive of under 5 miles towards Chelmsford are such different jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Once the engine has been run, the flush covers more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. Lasting damage is very uncommon when it's caught early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Boreham?
The vehicle stays where it is, whether that is a road beside Boreham Village Hall, a drive, a layby or a filling station around Boreham, and the van comes to it. Which fluid went in, about how much, plus if the engine has been run: we ask first, since those shape the work.
Then your tank is cleared where your car stands, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. What remains from AdBlue won't flush out unaided, and so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which matters much more here than for petrol. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once our engineers arrive, provided your motor hasn't run. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
The final step is to prime your system on clean diesel. Starting the car comes next, and then you set off from where the vehicle is parked, at Beaulieu Park or on a drive in Boreham. Our engineers make sure it runs properly on fresh diesel before we go. No workshop is required at any point, with the entire job done on the spot. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers ask for.
About Boreham itself
Boreham is a village in Essex, situated approximately 3.7 miles from Chelmsford and 34 miles from London, with Boreham being a relatively small settlement at an elevation of 39 metres. Boreham has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant, and Boreham is surrounded by other villages such as Mowden, Hatfield Peverel, and Little Baddow. Boreham remains a quiet, inland community with a population of around 1624 residents.
Boreham and Essex: AdBlue drains across the area
Mowden, Hatfield Peverel and Little Baddow are among the places near Boreham that the same teams serve, along with most of Essex further out, throughout the CM postcode area. Guessing doesn't help close to a border or anywhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
Boreham is a rural village, and a mobile 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 is, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
Boreham: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no fair single price, since 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 amount of AdBlue that got in. After that it depends on where your car is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Elizabeth Maconchy.
Ahead of any figure, never after, each call from Boreham opens with three questions: the fuel, the quantity, plus whether the engine ran. With those replies, a range shrinks to a single fixed figure.
The quote is quoted on the call, before anyone leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Still next to the car around Boreham?
Not touching the car is, then, the most useful thing you can do. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Boreham or anywhere across Essex.