AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Brockenhurst? Keep It Switched Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you begin if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and nothing happens until the motor pulls it round. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Brockenhurst, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your engine has run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Brockenhurst: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can switch anything on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and roughly what quantity, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Tell us a postcode starting SO42 7, or whatever street is closest, and our van reaches you straight — so ring wherever you stand.
Things not to do:
- Shifting your vehicle just a short way is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the moment the ignition comes on, so keep the vehicle off.
- Pouring in more diesel does not help: AdBlue separates out instead of thinning.
- Leave the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch down Sway Road.
- Draining that tank yourself by the road isn't worth trying.
On a forecourt around Brockenhurst, whether it's the Esso or another one, ask the attendants to help you push the vehicle clear of the pump. Parked on your own drive? Then it remains just as it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your motor. Its own tank keeps it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Neither side fits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
It does not combine. Once it's poured into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like diesel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and pools below it — the same spot the intake sucks from. A car filled on a drive in North Weirs yesterday evening and left unstarted is the straightforward case. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up so far — but when your engine turns, that's what goes first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
Once it is sucked in, the damage comes in two forms. 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 working on the components it hits for as long as it stays there. Pipes carrying AdBlue mean damage by morning for a vehicle sitting around Brockenhurst. Only inside that tank, it stays stable. Then there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the parts that need it most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is regularly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Asda Express and you have a problem of thin fuel. Damage just comes from running on it. Mixed into the diesel and left inside the tank, it causes none.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. It can't simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether the car is in Dilton or the middle of Brockenhurst.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Anywhere across Hampshire the car has stopped, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue still in the tank: the simplest bit of any fuel system to empty.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Brockenhurst
Plenty of cars place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, occasionally behind one flap, and in dim light the two may appear the same. Nobody means it. A bottle bought when driving home and poured in outside the house, rather than at the forecourt, is the usual route.
It tends to happen in a couple of familiar ways. The refill is hurried outside Brockenhurst Church of England Primary School & Pre-School, after your dash lit up with a warning while the children were taken off. After work, a container is tipped in on a driveway near Grigg Lane. Or the car is topped up in the car park at The Foresters Arms, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
It occurs most in the motors motorists know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Anywhere across Hampshire, Brockenhurst as well, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first response: keep it off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Brockenhurst, and your engine started?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Via the fuel filter, through the lines, and — with any running — into the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is where it has gone.
Lumpy running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard warnings or stalling: any might show up, perhaps part way across Brockenhurst or coming back from Culverley Green. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Brockenhurst lies under 10 miles from the M27; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than carrying on.
Hopping across Brockenhurst to the car park by Grigg Lane is one thing; driving for Southampton, under 10 miles away, is something else, since each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage matters. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once your engine has been run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. Long-term damage is very uncommon if it is spotted soon.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Brockenhurst: what it takes
A road by Ytene Gallery, a drive, a layby or a filling station: anywhere your car has come to rest around Brockenhurst, we come to it. Three answers decide the job, and so first we ask what was put in, roughly the amount, plus whether your motor has turned over.
Next, emptying that tank right there removes the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. The fuel system is purged thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when the motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Priming the fuel system with fresh diesel comes at the end. Whether it is a parking space at the nearest station or a drive around Brockenhurst, that is where our technicians fire it up and you set off. Before we leave, we make sure it's running correctly with clean diesel in. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never needs to go to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers want.
About Brockenhurst and where it is
Brockenhurst is a village situated on the banks of the Lymington River in southern Hampshire, with a low elevation of around 17 metres above sea level. Brockenhurst lies within the New Forest National Park, near the villages of Balmerlawn and Setley, and is approximately 9.5 miles from the city of Southampton. Brockenhurst has a population of around 1747 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Brockenhurst is also relatively close to South Weirs, another nearby settlement.
AdBlue drains in Brockenhurst and across Hampshire
Balmerlawn, South Weirs and Setley are among the towns near Brockenhurst that the same teams reach, along with much of Hampshire beyond, throughout the SO postcode area. Ring and ask rather than guess when you are close to a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
Anywhere your vehicle sits — a driveway at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — our technicians drain it on the spot, and there's no need to take it to us; that suits Brockenhurst, a village, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Brockenhurst: the cost of fixing it
There is no honest single quote, because the jobs are not the same. Three things change the cost: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where your car is. That last one rests on whether our van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight space behind St Saviour's Church.
Which fluid got in, what quantity, and if it ran: every Brockenhurst call begins by asking exactly those, ahead of a figure, never after. Once they are known, a range becomes one firm figure.
Our quote is quoted on the call, before a van sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Check your policy while we're on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
In Brockenhurst and still next to the car?
Then the most helpful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Brockenhurst or anywhere in Hampshire.