Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chineham
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is what AdBlue is. The harm starts once it's sucked through your pump — it won't burn, and it won't combine with diesel. Caught before your engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Chineham. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Chineham, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
To do:
- So no one can turn your ignition on, pull the keys out.
- Put your hazards on if you're at all near moving traffic.
- Keep your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- The van finds you fastest with a postcode starting RG24 8, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so call from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Moving your car just a short way is no reason to start the motor.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Never drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short way along Mattock Way.
- No draining it yourself, at all, on the roadside.
On a forecourt in Chineham, whether it's the Tesco or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the car away from the petrol pump. Parked on your own drive? Then it stays just where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Stored in a dedicated tank, it's squirted into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. A fuel pump isn't designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
It doesn't combine. After it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. Denser than diesel, it sinks and pools below it — the very spot the intake sucks from. Once the system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Until then it waits underneath the diesel, which is how a car topped up in Church End last night and not switched on remains the straightforward one, provided nobody touches your key.
After it is pulled in, the harm comes in two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny passages; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it stays in there. Overnight, a vehicle parked around Chineham with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; if it's just in your tank, it doesn't. Diesel protects the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water offers none of that, which is a separate form of harm.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
An issue of thin fuel is what you get after fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Texaco. No damage comes as long as it stays unused, blended into your diesel — only when the engine works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Because it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Crystals and corrosion remain after the next fill, and AdBlue splits again out of your diesel, so watering it can't help. Hence the flush counts so much, and turning your key "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other mistake — in Popley or the heart of Chineham equally.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Wherever across Hampshire the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun motor leaves the AdBlue still inside the reservoir: the simplest part of any fuel system to empty.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Chineham
Many cars put the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel cap, now and then behind a single flap, and in dim light the two can look the same. Nobody intends it. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the pump.
Usually, it takes place in one of a few familiar ways. The top-up gets rushed outside Four Lanes Community Junior School, because your dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped in. Close to Catkin Close, a driver pours a container in on the drive after work. Another pattern: darkness, a pub car park by The Chineham Arms, and a driver using that flap for the first time.
It happens most in the cars people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Leave it switched off: that's the first response to an identical mistake, wherever in Chineham or the remainder of Hampshire you happen to be.
Chineham: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. It has been drawn through the filter and the lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has reached the high-pressure pump and the injectors.
You may notice the motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Great Sorrels Copse or halfway across Chineham. No starting it again to test: pull over once it is safe, then turn it off. More of that is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M3, under 3 miles from Chineham, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Chineham to the car park by Chineham Village Hall is a very different job from a run towards Winchester, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with every mile. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever your car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush once the engine has been started. Permanent damage is very uncommon if it is caught quickly.
Chineham: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
The vehicle stays put, whether that is a road near Christ Church Chineham, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt in Chineham, and the van comes to it. Three replies shape the job, and so first our engineers ask which fluid went in, roughly what quantity, and whether the motor has run.
Next, draining the tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue together. What remains from AdBlue will not wash out by itself, so the fuel system gets a full flush, which matters much more here than for petrol. Fresh diesel goes in after your filter is cleaned — or replaced, when it needs to be — and then the vehicle is tested. Not run? In that case count on about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a busy forecourt is no issue, and it is quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
Lastly, the fuel system is bled with clean diesel. Whether it is a parking space by Basingstoke or a drive around Chineham, that is where we fire it up and you drive off. The test before our technicians go is that it runs properly on clean diesel. No workshop is required at any point, with the entire job done then and there. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers want.
About Chineham
Chineham is a suburban area in Hampshire, situated near the River Loddon and characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock. Chineham sits at an elevation of around 73 metres, with nearby places including Little Basing, Daneshill, and Old Basing. Chineham is located approximately 19 miles from Winchester and 43 miles from London, making it a commuter-friendly location. Chineham has a population of around 5440 residents, who enjoy its riverside setting and surrounding countryside.
Chineham and Hampshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout the RG postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue jobs around Chineham serve much of Hampshire too, Little Basing, Daneshill and Old Basing included. Phone and check rather than guess if you are by a border, or anywhere awkward to pin down.
No towing is needed. In Chineham, a residential suburb, a mobile service works: the vehicle is drained on the spot, whether in a drive, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
Chineham: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Because the callouts vary, a flat figure wouldn't be honest. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what moves the cost. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the position of the vehicle, because an open drive is easier for our van to reach safely than a tight space behind Totem Pole.
What was put in, what quantity, and whether the engine ran: every Chineham call begins with exactly those, before a figure, not afterwards. The answers turn a range into a straight price.
The quote is quoted on the call, before a van leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Look at your insurance while we are on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
Alongside the car around Chineham, right now?
Right now, the best thing to do with your car is to leave it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Say it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Chineham or anywhere in Hampshire.