AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Burntcommon? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep the motor off then keep your ignition off. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when your fuel system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Burntcommon, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your motor has been run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Burntcommon, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Do:
- Keys out — then nobody can power anything on.
- If you're anywhere close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and about how much, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting GU23 6, or just the name of a street nearby, so call from the car.
Do not do these:
- Don't start your engine, even for a moment to move your car.
- The ignition remains off: on lots of diesels, turning it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short way down Burnt Common Lane.
- By the road, don't attempt draining it on your own.
Ask the attendants to help you move the vehicle away from the pumps if you are on a forecourt in Burntcommon, whether it is the Shell or somewhere else. At your own drive, don't touch it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump isn't designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
It does not combine. Once it's tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the same spot the pickup sucks from. When your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Until then it sits underneath your diesel, and that is how a vehicle filled in Ripley last night and never started remains the simple case, as long as nobody turns your key.
From there it does two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it leaves urea that hardens in filters and tiny channels; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, every part it touches suffers for as long as it remains inside. If the AdBlue is in the lines, leaving it till morning around Burntcommon leaves it worse. In the tank only, time does nothing. Then there is the water: it offers no protection to the parts that need it the most — the injection pump and every injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error at the BP, and this problem is diluted fuel. No damage comes as long as it stays put, mixed into the diesel — only when your motor works on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is plainly the wrong one. Not burning, it cannot just be run through. Nor can it be watered down, since it separates back out — and the next fill will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Burntcommon or out in Cartbridge, costs more than nearly any other slip.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Never started? Then the AdBlue sits only inside that tank, the simplest bit of the whole system to clear, anywhere your car has stopped in Surrey.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Burntcommon: how it ends up there
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap — may appear the same. Nobody means it; plenty of designs allow it. Mostly it's never the forecourt: someone picks up a container driving home and tips it in at home.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Hurrying, outside Send CofE Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone tops up your car. Near Chestnut Close, someone tips a container in on that drive after work. Else, after dark by The Saddlers Arms, the car gets topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
Hired motors, new vehicles, company motors, or the second vehicle in a home with one of each: the least known vehicles get it the most. Same mistake, same first response — leave it off — anywhere you happen to be around Burntcommon or the rest of Surrey.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Burntcommon, and your engine started?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. With any running time, it goes on to the injection pump and each injector, after passing via your filter and lines.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard warnings or cutting out: any might appear, perhaps midway across Burntcommon or returning from Oldlands Copse. No starting it again to check: pull over when safe, then turn everything off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
On the M25, under 5 miles from Burntcommon, the first junction is where to exit, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not driving on.
Hopping across Burntcommon to the car park by Nut Hill Car Boot Sale is one thing; driving for Westminster, under 25 miles away, is another, because each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. Tell us about how far it had come.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out once the motor has been started. Long-term damage is very uncommon if it is caught soon.
Burntcommon: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
A street beside Ripley Village Hall, a driveway, a layby or a filling station: wherever your car has stopped in Burntcommon, our technicians come to it. Which fluid got in, about how much, plus if your engine has been run: our engineers ask before all else, because those shape the job.
Next, emptying your tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. Residue from AdBlue won't flush out by itself, so the whole system gets a full flush, which counts much more with urea than with petrol. Next, the fuel filter: cleaned, or replaced when it must be. Then clean diesel, and then a test of your vehicle. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when the engine has not run. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
The last step is to prime the fuel system on new diesel. You set off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether your car is on a drive around Burntcommon or in a bay by Clandon. We check it runs smoothly on fresh diesel before leaving. No workshop is needed at any point, with the entire job done then and there. The insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Burntcommon
Burntcommon is a village in Surrey, situated on the riverside at a relatively low elevation of 35 metres. Burntcommon lies near the villages of Send Marsh and Grove Heath, and is part of the wider Send area. Burntcommon has a population of around 1245 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Burntcommon is located approximately 22.5 miles from London, making it a commuter base for those working in the city.
AdBlue drains across Surrey, Burntcommon included
Over the GU postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue jobs in Burntcommon reach much of Surrey as well, Send Marsh, Grove Heath and Send included. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Burntcommon is a village, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Burntcommon
There's no honest single price, because the jobs aren't the same. The price shifts first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where the vehicle is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Send and Ripley History Society Museum.
Before any figure, never afterwards, every call from Burntcommon begins with the same three checks: the fuel, the quantity, and whether it ran. When those are known, a range turns into one firm figure.
The quote is given during the call, before anyone leaves; settling up happens on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
In Burntcommon and still beside the car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with the vehicle is to leave it. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Burntcommon or wherever in Surrey.