AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chertsey? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, your ignition remains off and so does the motor. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. The harm starts once it's pulled through the lines — it will not ignite, and it will not combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Chertsey, is generally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before your engine has been run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Chertsey
Things to do:
- Pocket the keys, and that prevents someone turning the electrics on.
- Put the hazards on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and roughly what quantity, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting KT16 8, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so phone from the car.
Not to do:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to shift your vehicle.
- Switching the key to ignition alone starts the pump running on many diesels. Skip it.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue won't blend, so it's wasted.
- Keep the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short distance up London Street.
- Beside the road, do not try draining it yourself.
The staff on duty at any Chertsey filling station — the Sainsbury's among them — will usually lend a hand rolling it aside if you ask. On the drive, the car stays exactly as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, and there it treats the gas. Nothing inside an injection pump is made for this liquid — and no part of that was intended to travel that way.
Poured in with your diesel, it keeps separate rather than blending — quite different from fuel. The pickup takes fuel from the deepest part of the tank, and that's precisely where AdBlue settles: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. A car filled on a driveway in Penton Hook yesterday evening and left unstarted counts as the straightforward one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — but once your motor turns, that is what goes first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
Two kinds of damage come 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 labouring on the parts it reaches for as long as it remains there. Lines holding AdBlue mean harm overnight for a car sitting in Chertsey. Just in that tank, it stays stable. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water gives none of that, which is a second form of damage.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Fill a diesel with petrol in error at the BP, and the problem is thinned fuel. Blended through the diesel and sitting still, it's no threat at that stage; running the motor does the harm.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Nor can it be watered down, since it separates back out — and the following tankful won't rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts more here, and turning the key "to see", in the centre of Chertsey or out in Laleham, does more harm than nearly any other error.
As with petrol, there is good news. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on any fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in it — anywhere across Surrey the car sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Chertsey: how it ends up there
Plenty of cars place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel cap, occasionally behind one flap, and after dark the two can look the same. No one intends it. It mostly occurs at home, from a bottle grabbed on the journey home, not at the filling station.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside St Anne's Catholic Primary School the refill is hurried. After work, a container goes in on a drive close to Windsor Street. Else, after dark by The Prince Regent, your vehicle is topped up by a driver opening that flap the first time.
It crops up most in a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the spare motor of a family with one of each fuels — the cars drivers know the least. Wherever you're in Chertsey or the remainder of Surrey, it's the same slip and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Chertsey?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. It's been sucked through the fuel filter and the fuel lines, and if the motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure pump and the injectors.
You may notice your engine running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Abbeyfields or halfway across Chertsey. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Exit the M3, under a mile from Chertsey, at the next junction and park somewhere safe, not carrying on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Chertsey to the car park by St. Peter's Church is a very different job from a run towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever your car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been started. Lasting damage is very unusual if it's spotted early.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves around Chertsey
Anywhere it has come to rest around Chertsey — a filling station, a lay-by, a driveway, a road beside Chertsey Museum — our van comes to your vehicle. Three answers decide the job, and so first we ask which fluid went in, roughly the amount, and whether your motor has run.
Then your tank is drained where the vehicle waits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. What remains from AdBlue won't wash out unaided, so the fuel system gets a careful flush, which counts much more here than for petrol. Next, the fuel filter: cleaned, or replaced when it must be. After that clean diesel, then a check of your car. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once our technicians arrive, provided your engine has not run. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
New diesel goes in to prime the system, and that's the final step. Whether it is a parking space by the nearest station or a driveway around Chertsey, that is where our technicians start it and you drive off. It's checked on fresh diesel to be sure it runs properly before we head off. The entire job is done where your car is, so it never needs to go to a workshop. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers want.
About Chertsey
Chertsey is a town situated on the River Thames in Surrey, with a low elevation of around 17 metres above sea level. Chertsey lies approximately 18 miles south-west of central London, near the M25 motorway. Chertsey has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent. Chertsey is close to several nearby places, including Abbey Mead and St Anns Hill.
AdBlue drains across Chertsey and Surrey
Abbey Mead, Addlestonemoor and St Anns Hill are among the towns near Chertsey that the same vans reach, together with most of Surrey beyond, throughout the KT postcode area. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of assuming.
No moving is needed. In Chertsey, a riverside town, a mobile service fits: the vehicle is emptied where it stands, whether on a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Chertsey: the cost of fixing it
Each job differs, so no single price would be honest. Three things change the cost: whether your engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the car is. That last one rests on whether our van can get to it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind Chertsey Hall.
What went in, how much, and whether it ran: each Chertsey enquiry opens by asking precisely those, ahead of any quote, never afterwards. Those answers turn a range into a straight price.
The price is given during the call, before anyone sets off; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. While the van is on the way, dig out your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
In Chertsey and still alongside your car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to leave it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, across Chertsey or wherever in Surrey, once you ring 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran.