Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bosham
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor mixes, and no harm starts until the engine pulls it through. If your engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally emptied and carefully cleaned where your car stands in Bosham. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Bosham
Things to do:
- So nobody can turn your ignition on, pull your keys out.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Which product, and about what quantity? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and our technicians can see.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting PO18 8, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Never do these:
- No starting your engine — not for a second, not to shift the car.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it is pointless.
- Keep it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance along Shore Road.
- Draining the tank on your own by the road is not one to try.
Moving the vehicle away from the pumps is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Bosham forecourt you are on, the Esso or any other. On the drive, the vehicle remains exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. Not one side suits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't take urea.
It does not combine. After it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue behaves nothing like fuel. It drops, since it's heavier than diesel, and settles low where the pickup takes its fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in West Itchenor last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps running on the parts it hits for as long as it stays there. Where the AdBlue is in the pipework, waiting overnight in Bosham leaves it worse. In that tank alone, waiting costs nothing. The water in it does harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more significant than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Tesco, and this issue is thinned fuel. No damage comes as long as it stays unused, mixed into the diesel — only once your motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. It cannot simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits again — and the next tankful won't rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Bosham or out in Nutbourne, costs more than almost any other error.
As with petrol, there's good news. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on any fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere around West Sussex your vehicle sits.
Bosham: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Many vehicles put the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, occasionally behind one flap, and after dark the two can appear the same. Nobody means it. It mostly happens outside the house, from a bottle grabbed on the journey home, not at the forecourt.
A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. The top-up is hurried outside Bosham Primary School, after your dash flashed with a warning as the children were dropped in. Someone pours the bottle in at home, right off Bosham Lane, as the day ends. One more pattern: dim light, a pub car park by The Anchor Bleu, and a driver using that flap for the first time.
It comes up the most in a rental, a brand-new car, a fleet motor, or the spare car of a family with one of each fuels — the cars drivers use the least. Wherever you are around Bosham or the remainder of West Sussex, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Bosham?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Given any running time, it goes on to the injection pump and every injector, having passed through your filter and pipework.
Watch for rough running, smoke, lost power, warnings on your dash, or a stall — returning from Quay Meadow, say, or part way across Bosham. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
Bosham sits under 10 miles from the Waterlooville Bypass; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and stop somewhere safe rather than driving on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Bosham to the car park by Holy Trinity is a very different job from a run towards Chichester, under 5 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Our technicians do all of the cleaning where your car has come to a stop, and once the motor has been started there is more of it. Long-term damage is very rare if it is spotted quickly.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel in Bosham: what it takes
Anywhere it has come to rest in Bosham — a forecourt, a layby, a drive, a road beside Bosham Walk Art & Craft Centre — the van travels to your vehicle. What was put in, roughly how much, and if your motor has turned over: our engineers check before all else, because those shape the job.
Next, draining that tank right there takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. The system is rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. About half an hour on site is typical for most jobs when your engine has not run. Our equipment is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no fault, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Lastly, the system is bled with new diesel. Whether it's a parking space at the nearest station or a drive in Bosham, that is where our engineers start it and you drive off. The check before our engineers head off is that it runs properly on new diesel. As the job is done in full where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. At the end, there is the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a written report from the engineer.
About Bosham and where it is
Bosham is a small coastal village in West Sussex, situated near the city of Chichester and overlooking Bosham Hoe. Bosham sits at a low elevation of around 3 metres, close to the shores of the English Channel. Bosham is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock and quiet, rural atmosphere, with nearby villages including Chidham and Broadbridge.
AdBlue drains across Bosham and West Sussex
Chidham, Broadbridge and Bosham Hoe are among the places near Bosham that the same teams reach, together with much of West Sussex further out, throughout the PO postcode area. Assuming won't help close to a border or anywhere tricky to describe; ring and ask.
No towing is needed. In Bosham, a coastal village, a mobile service fits: your vehicle is emptied where it stands, whether on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Bosham: the cost of fixing it
Since the callouts vary, a single price would not be honest. What changes the cost is, first of all, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and then where the car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight space behind The Hammond Gallery.
Which fluid got in, what quantity, and whether the engine ran: every Bosham call opens by asking exactly that, ahead of any figure, not afterwards. Once they are known, a range becomes one firm figure.
Priced by phone before the van sets out, it is settled that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. As the van is travelling, dig out your policy: plenty include misfuelling.
In Bosham and still next to the car?
Then, do nothing — that's the best move there is. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Bosham or wherever in West Sussex.