AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chartham Hatch? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that is how you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and nothing happens until your motor sucks it round. In Chartham Hatch, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, just where the vehicle is. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Chartham Hatch, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do straight away
To do:
- Take your keys out, so no one switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all close.
- Keep the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and about how much.
- Give us a postcode starting CT4 7, or whatever street lies closest, and our van finds you directly — so ring from wherever you stand.
Not to do:
- Do not start your motor, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to start the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel won't weaken it.
- Keep the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way up Hatch Lane.
- By the road, do not attempt draining it yourself.
The attendants on duty at any Chartham Hatch filling station — the BP included — will normally help pushing it clear if you ask. At home, your car remains exactly as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the motor. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it's fed into the exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. Neither side fits the other: urea doesn't belong in a pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, once tipped in, will not. The behaviour is nothing like diesel's. The intake sucks fuel from the lowest part of your tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue ends up: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Mystole overnight and has not been started since. The AdBlue waits at the foot of the tank, untouched — but it will be the first thing through once the engine runs, before any diesel at all.
After it is sucked in, the harm takes two forms. What is left when the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in tiny channels and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in the fuel system, and keeps going till it is flushed out. Overnight, a car parked around Chartham Hatch with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; where it is just in that tank, nothing changes. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and each injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, which is a separate form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is commonly worse than petrol
A fault of thin fuel is what you end up with after fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Esso. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's in your tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It cannot simply be run through, because it doesn't burn. Nor can it be watered down, because it separates again — and the next tankful will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts more here, and trying the engine "to see", in the heart of Chartham Hatch or out in St Augustines, costs more than almost any other slip.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest part on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in it — anywhere in Kent the car has stopped.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Chartham Hatch: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors waits right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Usually it's never the filling station: a driver buys a container driving home and pours it in at home.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Chartham Primary School the refill is rushed. After work, a bottle goes in on a driveway near Town Lane. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap tops up the car after dark, parked in the car park outside the pub in the village.
It comes up the most in a hire car, a brand-new vehicle, a company vehicle, or the other car in a family with both fuel types — the vehicles people know least. Same mistake, same first step — leave it switched off — anywhere you happen to be in Chartham Hatch or the remainder of Kent.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Chartham Hatch?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. The filter and lines have had it pulled along, and some running takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
You may see your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Hunstead Wood or halfway across Chartham Hatch. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Keep the car off instead of restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Chartham Hatch sits under 5 miles from the M2; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and stop somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further in. That is why a hop across Chartham Hatch to park near Chartham Hatch Village Hall and a drive of under 5 miles towards Canterbury are very distinct jobs. Tell us about how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where the car has ended up, and once the engine has been run there is more of it. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage if it's noticed soon.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves around Chartham Hatch
We come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Chartham Hatch: a side street near Chartham Cemetery, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and whether your motor has been run, because those answers determine the work.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one after the tank is emptied, on the spot. Residue from AdBlue won't wash away unaided, so the fuel system gets a full flush, which counts much more here than for petrol. Fresh diesel goes in after the fuel filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and then your vehicle is tested. Roughly half an hour on site is typical for most jobs where the engine hasn't run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Bleeding the fuel system with clean diesel comes at the end. You set off as soon as our technicians have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a drive in Chartham Hatch or in a space by Chartham. Our engineers confirm it runs smoothly on new diesel before we go. Our technicians do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never needs to be taken to a workshop. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Chartham Hatch
Chartham Hatch is a small village in Kent, situated near the city of Canterbury and surrounded by other local communities such as Chartham and Upper Harbledown. Chartham Hatch sits at an elevation of 87 metres, with a mix of rural and residential landscapes. Chartham Hatch has a population of around 512 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Chartham Hatch is located approximately 51.7 miles from London, making it a relatively rural area within the South East region.
AdBlue drains in Chartham Hatch and across Kent
AdBlue jobs around Chartham Hatch go to vans that serve the towns near it — Chartham, Shalmsford Street plus Upper Harbledown — and much of Kent beyond, throughout CT postcodes. Close to a boundary, or anywhere tricky to pin down? Checking is better than guessing, and so phone.
A van that comes to you fits Chartham Hatch, a rural village: there's no need to bring your car to us, since our engineers drain it there, on a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Chartham Hatch?
Each job differs, so not one fixed quote is fair. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the position of your car, since an open driveway is easier for our van to reach safely than a tight space behind St Mary's Church.
Ahead of any quote, never after, each enquiry from Chartham Hatch opens with the same three questions: the fuel, the amount, plus whether the engine ran. Those replies shrink the range right down to a single figure.
Before a van sets off, you hear our price by phone. Then you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van gets there.
Still beside the car in Chartham Hatch?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to leave it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Chartham Hatch or wherever within Kent.