AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Caterham? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, your ignition stays off and so does the engine. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Being water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble just comes once your pump starts drawing it. Caught before your engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Caterham. Before anything, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Caterham: the first few minutes
To do:
- Pull your keys out, so no one switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and about how much.
- Our van locates you fastest with a postcode starting CR3 6, or just the name of a street nearby, and so phone from the spot.
Never:
- No starting the motor — not briefly, not to reposition the vehicle.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Pouring in extra diesel does not work: AdBlue separates out rather than thinning.
- Keep it where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch along Stafford Road.
- By the road, don't try draining it on your own.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move the vehicle off the island if you are at a forecourt in Caterham, whether it is the Texaco or somewhere else. On your own drive, do not touch it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your engine. Stored in a dedicated tank, it's injected into the exhaust to treat the fumes. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Tipped in with your diesel, it keeps apart rather than blending — quite different from fuel. Denser than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the very place the pickup draws 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 Tylers Green last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
It does two kinds of harm from there. What remains when the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in tiny passages and clog filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in the fuel system, and carries on till it is flushed out. Pipes carrying AdBlue spell harm by morning for a vehicle sitting in Caterham. Just in your tank, it stays the same. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger issue?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Esso and you have a problem of thin fuel. Blended through your diesel and left unused, it is harmless for now; using your motor is the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Whether your vehicle is in Whyteleafe or the centre of Caterham, firing it up "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake, and the flush matters more. Why: it will not remain mixed, so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion outlast the next fill.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Wherever in Surrey your car has come to rest, an unstarted engine leaves the AdBlue yet in the tank: the easiest part of any fuel system to empty.
Caterham: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not on purpose. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel one, occasionally under one flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. Mostly it's not the forecourt: a driver picks up a bottle heading home and tips it in at home.
Mostly, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. Hurrying, outside Hillcroft Primary School & Nursery, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, a parent tops up the car. A driver tips the bottle in at home, right off Station Avenue, as the day ends. Else, after dark outside The William Garland, the vehicle is refilled by a driver using that flap the first time.
The least known cars see it the most — rentals, new cars, company ones, and the other car in a family with one of each fuel types. Anywhere in Surrey, Caterham as well, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first step: keep it off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Caterham?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. With any running, it goes on to the injection pump and every injector, after passing through the fuel filter and lines.
Rough running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any may show up, perhaps midway across Caterham or returning from Timber Hill Park. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Caterham sits under 3 miles from the M25; if you were on it, leave by the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of carrying on.
Hopping across Caterham to the car park by Caterham Museum is one matter; heading towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, is something else, because each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. So distance matters. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after the motor has been running. Noticed soon, it very seldom leaves long-term damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Caterham?
The car stays put, whether that's a road near Caterham Library, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt in Caterham, and our van comes to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and whether your motor has run, since those replies settle this work.
Then that tank is cleared where your car sits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Your system is cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. After that, the fuel filter: flushed, or changed if it has to be. After that fresh diesel, and then a test of your vehicle. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour visit once our technicians turn up, if the motor has not run. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Bleeding the system with clean diesel comes at the end. You set off as soon as we have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive around Caterham or in a space outside the nearest station. It's tested on clean diesel to be sure it runs properly before our engineers go. We do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never needs to be taken to a garage. At the end, there is paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Caterham itself
Caterham is a town in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of 132 metres, approximately 15.7 miles south of central London. Caterham is characterized by a high proportion of flat housing and is close to nearby places such as Woldingham Garden Village, Chaldon, and Woldingham. Caterham has a population of around 13,581 people and is located near the North Downs, an area of outstanding natural beauty. Caterham is also near the county town of Surrey, Guildford, but is more closely associated with the London commuter belt.
Caterham and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
Woldingham Garden Village, Chaldon and Woldingham are among the places around Caterham that the same teams serve, along with most of Surrey beyond, throughout the CR postcode area. Assuming won't help by a border or anywhere tricky to pin down; ring and ask.
A mobile service suits Caterham, a town: there's no need to take your vehicle to us, because our engineers empty it on the spot, on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
Caterham: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There is no honest single quote, since the jobs are not the same. The price changes first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether our van can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Soper Hall.
That is why every call from Caterham starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what went in, how much, and whether it's run. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
Our price is quoted during the call, before a van sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Alongside the vehicle in Caterham, right now?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if it ran are all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest across Surrey, Caterham included.