Broomhall: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does the motor. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. As it is water-based, it will not burn and never combines with diesel; trouble just comes when the pump starts pulling it. If your engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally drained and thoroughly flushed where your car sits in Broomhall. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Broomhall
To do:
- So no one can turn the ignition on, take the keys away.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting SL5 0, or just the name of a street nearby, and so call from the car.
Don't:
- No starting your motor — not for a second, not to reposition the vehicle.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Adding extra diesel does not help: AdBlue separates out instead of blending.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short stretch along London Road.
- Don't try to drain the vehicle yourself by the roadside.
The staff working at any Broomhall filling station — the Esso among them — will normally lend a hand pushing it aside if you ask. At your own driveway, don't move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your motor. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it is sprayed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
It does not combine. After it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue behaves not at all like fuel. The intake sucks fuel from the deepest part of your tank, and that is just where AdBlue settles: being denser than diesel, it sinks. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Before then it waits underneath your diesel, and that is why a car filled in Tittenhurst last night and not started stays the simple one, provided no one touches your key.
After it is sucked in, the harm 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 running on the parts it gets to for as long as it stays there. A car left standing in Broomhall with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. Diesel protects the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, which is a separate form of damage.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is often worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the Shell and you have a fault of thin fuel. Blended into your diesel and sitting still, it is harmless for now; running the motor is the harm.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong liquid. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be watered down, because it separates again — and the next tankful won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and trying the engine "to see", in the heart of Broomhall or out in Blacknest, does more harm than almost any other error.
As with petrol, there is good news. Anywhere in Berkshire the vehicle has stopped, an unrun engine means the AdBlue yet inside the reservoir: the easiest part of a fuel system to empty.
Broomhall: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Many cars put the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel cap, occasionally behind a single flap, and in dim light the two can appear the same. Nobody intends it. It usually takes place outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, rather than at the filling station.
A couple of familiar ways cover the majority of them. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, Sunningdale. After work, a bottle goes in on a driveway close to Halfpenny Lane. Else, in dim light by Broomhall Hutt, the car gets refilled by a driver using that flap the first time.
Rented cars, brand-new vehicles, company vehicles, or the second vehicle in a home with both fuels: the least familiar vehicles see it most. Leave it off: that is the first response to the same slip, anywhere in Broomhall or the remainder of Berkshire you happen to be.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Broomhall?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. It has been sucked through the fuel filter and the fuel lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors.
Expect rough running, smoke, falling power, lights on the dash, or a stall — coming back from Chestnut Wood, perhaps, or part way across Broomhall. When you safely can, pull over then switch everything off — with no turning it on again to see. Every start pulls more of it through.
Leave the M3, under 3 miles from Broomhall, at the next junction and stop somewhere safe, not carrying on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue further into the system. That's why crossing Broomhall to park beside blue_plaque: Jack White and a drive of under 25 miles towards Westminster are such different jobs. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever the car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after the engine has been run. Long-term damage is very unusual if it's spotted quickly.
Emptying AdBlue in a diesel around Broomhall: what it takes
Our technicians come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Broomhall: a side street near Sunningdale Library, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our technicians ask what went in, about how much, and whether your motor has run, because those answers settle the work.
Then that tank is drained where your car stands, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing counts: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through since what remains will not wash out by itself. A test of the vehicle follows at the end, once fresh diesel goes in and the fuel filter gets cleaned or, if necessary, replaced. If your motor hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. Our equipment is explosion-proof, and so a live forecourt is no fault, and it's hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Bleeding the system with clean diesel comes last. You set off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a driveway around Broomhall or in a bay by Sunningdale. Before we go, we check it is running correctly with new diesel in. Our engineers do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never has to be taken to a workshop. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours once this job is done.
About Broomhall itself
Broomhall is a locality in Berkshire, situated inland at an elevation of 57 metres, approximately 23 miles from London. Broomhall is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting the area's residential nature. Broomhall is close to nearby places such as The Rise, Sunningdale, and Shrubs Hill, and is home to around 1107 residents.
Broomhall and Berkshire: AdBlue drains across the area
The teams that answer AdBlue call-outs in Broomhall also cover the places about it, The Rise, Sunningdale and Shrubs Hill among them, and most of Berkshire beyond, across the SL postcode area. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Broomhall is a small village, and an on-site 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 sits, so it never needs to be moved to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Broomhall: the cost of fixing it
Every job differs, so no single quote would be honest. What shifts the cost is, first of all, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and finally where the vehicle is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Holy Trinity.
That is why every call from Broomhall starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and whether it's run. Given those replies, a range shrinks to a single fixed number.
Before anyone sets off, you hear our price by phone. And payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Look at your policy whilst we're on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
In Broomhall and still next to the car?
Then, touch nothing — that's the most helpful move there is. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Broomhall or anywhere in Berkshire.