AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Bulverhythe? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep your engine off then keep the ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it will not ignite and never combines with diesel; trouble just comes once the pump starts drawing it. If the engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly purged where the car stands around Bulverhythe. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Bulverhythe, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
Do these:
- Take the keys out, and so nobody switches your ignition on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Tell us a postcode starting TN38 8, or whichever street is nearest, and our van reaches you straight — so call wherever you are.
Not to do:
- Shifting your vehicle just a short way is no reason to fire up the engine.
- The ignition stays off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start your fuel pump.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue will not mix, so it's pointless.
- Leave the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch down Cliftonville Road.
- By the road, don't try draining it yourself.
Rolling the car away from the island is a job for attendants to help with, wherever Bulverhythe forecourt you are on, the JET or any other. On the drive, the car stays just where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. Kept in a separate tank, it is injected into the exhaust to treat the fumes. Not one side fits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump cannot take urea.
It does not blend. After it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. The intake takes fuel from the deepest part of that tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue ends up: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Pebsham last night and has not turned since. The liquid waits at the foot of that tank, untouched — though it would be the first thing through once the motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It causes two kinds of harm from there. 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, and so it keeps running on the parts it gets to for as long as it remains there. If the AdBlue is in the pipework, waiting till morning around Bulverhythe leaves things worse. In that tank alone, waiting does nothing. The water in it causes harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel often the bigger problem?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Esso and you have a fault of thin fuel. No harm is done as long as it sits unused, blended into the diesel — only once your motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Because it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Whether the car is in Hollington Park or the heart of Bulverhythe, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than nearly any other mistake, and the flush matters more. Why: it won't remain mixed, so watering it down is impossible; and crystals and corrosion survive the following tankful.
As with petrol, there's good news. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on a fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever around East Sussex your car sits.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Bulverhythe?
Many cars put the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap, and in dim light the two can appear identical. Nobody intends it. It usually happens outside the house, from a bottle bought en route home, rather than at the filling station.
Mostly, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Mulberry West St Leonards Primary. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Bexhill Road. One more version: dim light, the car park outside The Comet, and a driver using that flap for the first time.
Hired vehicles, brand-new motors, company motors, or the spare vehicle in a family with one of each: the least known cars get it most. Keep it switched off: that's the first step to the same slip, anywhere in Bulverhythe or the remainder of East Sussex you are.
Bulverhythe: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via the fuel filter, through the lines, and — given any running time — into the injection pump and each injector: that's where it travels.
You may notice your motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Bulverhythe Recreation Ground or halfway across Bulverhythe. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M20, under 50 miles from Bulverhythe, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Bulverhythe to the car park by St Ethelburga is a very different job from a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 50 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
There is more to rinse out once the motor has been started, and we do all of it where the vehicle has ended up. Long-term damage is very unusual when it's spotted soon.
Bulverhythe: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
Our technicians come to the vehicle, wherever it has stopped in Bulverhythe: a side street close to TK Maxx, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three answers decide the work, so first our engineers ask which fluid went in, about the amount, and whether your motor has run.
Then the tank is cleared where the vehicle sits, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. The fuel system is flushed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. After that, your filter: cleaned, or changed when it has to be. Then clean diesel, and then a check of your vehicle. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when the motor has not run. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no issue, and it is hushed enough for a residential street after dark.
Lastly, the system is bled with clean diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where the car is parked, by West St Leonards or on a drive in Bulverhythe. The check before we go is that it runs smoothly on fresh diesel. We do it all wherever the car has ended up, and it never needs to go to a workshop. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers want.
About Bulverhythe itself
Bulverhythe is a small coastal suburban area in East Sussex, situated near the towns of Hastings and St Leonards. Bulverhythe has a low elevation of around 4 metres, reflecting its seaside location. Bulverhythe is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock and is close to nearby places such as Harley Shute and West Marina.
Bulverhythe and East Sussex: AdBlue drains across the area
Harley Shute, West Marina and Glyne Gap are among the places around Bulverhythe that the same teams serve, together with most of East Sussex further out, over the TN postcode area. Near a boundary, or anywhere awkward to pin down? Asking is better than guessing, so phone.
A mobile service suits Bulverhythe, a residential suburb: there's no need to take your vehicle to us, since our technicians drain it on the spot, in a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
Bulverhythe: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Each job differs, so no single quote would be fair. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of your car, since an open driveway is simpler for a van to reach safely than a tight gap behind The Galleon.
Before any quote, never after, each enquiry from Bulverhythe opens with three questions: the fuel, the amount, plus whether it ran. Those replies shrink the range right down to a single figure.
Priced by phone before the van sets out, it is paid for that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours while we are on the way.
Bulverhythe: still beside your car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Bulverhythe or anywhere around East Sussex.