AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Chiddingfold? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. The trouble begins once it's pulled through the lines — it will not burn, and it will not blend with diesel. In Chiddingfold, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the vehicle is. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Chiddingfold: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do:
- Take your keys out, so nobody switches the ignition on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Which fluid, and about how much amount? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and we will know.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting GU8 4, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift your car: the motor stays off.
- Your ignition remains off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to start your fuel pump.
- Adding more diesel doesn't help: AdBlue settles out instead of blending.
- Never drive the car anywhere, not even a short distance up School Lane.
- By the road, do not try emptying it on your own.
The staff working at any Chiddingfold forecourt — the Shell among them — will usually lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. On that drive, the vehicle remains exactly where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. From a dedicated reservoir it is fed directly to the exhaust, treating what the engine lets out. A fuel pump isn't made to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Tipped in with the diesel, it stays separate rather than mixing — quite unlike fuel. The intake takes fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue ends up: being heavier than diesel, it sinks. A vehicle filled on a driveway in Wormley yesterday evening and not started since is the simple one. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up yet — but once your engine turns, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
From there it does two kinds of harm. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps running on the parts it reaches for as long as it remains there. Lines carrying AdBlue mean damage overnight for a vehicle parked in Chiddingfold. Just in the tank, it stays the same. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector need diesel running through them, so the water content damages them in its own right.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger problem?
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Esso's forecourt leaves your fuel watery — that is the main problem. Blended through the diesel and sitting still, it is no threat at that stage; running your motor does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Whether your car is in Ramsnest Common or the centre of Chiddingfold, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush counts for more. Why: it won't remain mixed, so diluting it fails; and deposits and corrosion survive the next fill.
As with petrol, there's good news. If the motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in the tank, and your tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Surrey the vehicle is standing.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Chiddingfold?
It is not deliberate. Plenty of cars keep the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and muddling them up is simple after dark. A container picked up when driving home and tipped in outside the house, instead of at the filling station, is the usual route.
Mostly, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. Hurrying, outside St Mary's Church of England Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone refills your car. Someone tips the bottle in outside their house, right off Petworth Road, as the day ends. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap tops up your car after dark, stopped in the car park by The Villagers.
The least known cars get it the most — hire cars, new cars, fleet cars, and the other car of a home with one of each fuels. Wherever in Surrey, Chiddingfold included, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first step: keep it switched off.
Chiddingfold: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. Given any running time, it travels to the injection pump and each injector, having passed through your filter and lines.
Maybe returning from Spring Copse, or part way across Chiddingfold, the motor might go lumpy, smoke, drop power, flash your dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the vehicle to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
On the M3, under 15 miles from Chiddingfold, the next junction is where to exit, and anywhere sensible is where to park — not carrying on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further into your system. That's why a hop across Chiddingfold to park beside St Teresa of Avila and a drive of under 25 miles towards Chichester are such distinct jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Once your engine has run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where your car has ended up. Caught early, it very rarely leaves long-term damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Chiddingfold?
We come to your car, wherever it has stopped around Chiddingfold: a side street near The Villagers, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What went in, about the quantity, and whether your engine has been run: our engineers check first, because those shape the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together after the tank is drained, right there. The fuel system is cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Next, your filter: cleaned, or replaced if it has to be. After that clean diesel, and then a check of your car. Not run? Then expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
Finally, the fuel system is primed with clean diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you set off from where the vehicle is parked, at Witley or on a driveway in Chiddingfold. It is tested on clean diesel to confirm it runs properly before our technicians go. Our engineers do it all wherever your car has stopped, and it never has to be taken to a garage. Your insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — each handed over once this job is done.
About Chiddingfold and where it is
Chiddingfold is a village in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of 64 metres, and is located approximately 34.8 miles south-west of London. Chiddingfold has a population of around 1160 residents and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Chiddingfold is near to several smaller communities, including Combe Common, Highstreet Green, and Hambledon. Chiddingfold is also relatively close to the city of Chichester, which is 20.2 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Chiddingfold and Surrey
AdBlue call-outs around Chiddingfold are passed to vans that cover the places around it — Combe Common, Highstreet Green as well as Hambledon — and most of Surrey further out, across GU postcodes. Guessing doesn't help close to a border or somewhere hard to describe; phone and ask.
No towing is needed. In Chiddingfold, a rural village, a van that comes to you fits: your vehicle is emptied on the spot, be it in a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a filling station.
Chiddingfold: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Because each callouts vary, a single figure would not be fair. What changes the cost is, first of all, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and after that where your car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind St Mary's Church (CofE) Chiddingfold.
With that reason, each enquiry from Chiddingfold begins with the same trio — what was put in, what quantity, whether it ran — ahead of any figure. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
Quoted on the call before the engineer heads out, it is paid for that day — card or phone, no deposit. Look at your insurance whilst we're on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
Next to the vehicle around Chiddingfold, right now?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran are everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Surrey, Chiddingfold too.