Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Chislehurst West
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble only starts once your pump begins drawing it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Chislehurst West, is normally all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your engine has run. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Chislehurst West: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- So no one can turn the ignition on, take the keys away.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and about how much, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting BR7 6, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Never:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to move your car.
- Plenty of diesels run their pump the instant your ignition comes on, and so keep the car off.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short distance down Albany Road is too far to drive the car.
- By the road, do not try emptying it on your own.
The staff working at any Chislehurst West forecourt — the Shell included — will normally lend a hand rolling it aside if you ask. If you are on your own drive, leave the car precisely where it stands.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. Neither side fits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and an injection pump cannot take urea.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once poured in, won't. The behaviour is nothing like diesel's. The pickup takes fuel from the lowest part of your tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue settles: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. A vehicle filled on a driveway in Longlands overnight and not started since is the simple one. No pump has sucked the AdBlue up so far — though once the engine runs, that's what goes first, straight from the bottom of the tank.
It does two kinds of harm from there. What is left once the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in narrow passages and block filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in the fuel system, and carries on until it's flushed out. Overnight, a vehicle sitting in Chislehurst West with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; if it's just in your tank, nothing changes. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it passes; water offers none of that, which is a second kind of harm.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more significant than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the BP, and the issue is diluted fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and while it's in that tank it causes no damage; the damage comes from running the engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a fault of the wrong substance altogether. It can't simply be run through, since it does not burn. Nor can it be thinned, since it splits again — and the following tankful will not clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts for more here, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Chislehurst West or out in Mottingham, costs more than almost any other mistake.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest job on a fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in there — wherever in Greater London your car sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Chislehurst West
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars rests right next to the diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Most of the time it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
It tends to happen in a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Red Hill Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Adelaide Road. Otherwise, after dark by Gordon Arms, the car is topped up by a driver opening that flap for the first time.
It crops up the most in a rental, a new motor, a fleet motor, or the spare motor in a home with one of each fuel types — the cars drivers use least. Leave it off: that is the first step to the same mistake, anywhere in Chislehurst West or the remainder of Greater London you happen to be.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Chislehurst West?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. The filter and pipework have had it pulled through, and any running time carries it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Perhaps returning from Chislehurst Recreation Ground, or part way across Chislehurst West, your engine may run lumpy, smoke, drop power, light up the dash or cut out. No restarting to test: pull over once it is safe, then turn it off. Every start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M20, under 10 miles from Chislehurst West, at the first junction and stop safely, rather than carrying on.
Mileage matters: each mile pushes the AdBlue further in, and so heading for London, under 10 miles away, gives a far larger job than crossing Chislehurst West to the car park by St Patrick's. Let us know about how far it had come.
Once the motor has run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where the car has ended up. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage when it's caught early.
Chislehurst West: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Our engineers come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Chislehurst West: a side street close to Chislehurst library, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether the motor has been run, since those answers determine the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one after the tank is drained, on the spot. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through since what remains won't wash away unaided. Testing your vehicle follows last, after fresh diesel is added and the fuel filter gets cleaned or, if necessary, replaced. Engine not run? In that case count on about half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
The final step is to prime the system on clean diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where the vehicle is parked, at Elmstead Woods or on a drive around Chislehurst West. Before we go, our technicians check it is running properly with fresh diesel in. Our technicians do it all wherever the car has stopped, and it never has to go to a garage. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Chislehurst West itself
Chislehurst West is a suburban area in Greater London, situated near the River Cray and close to the neighbouring communities of Chislehurst and Elmstead. Chislehurst West sits at an elevation of around 79 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation in the area. Chislehurst West is located approximately 10 miles from central London, making it a commuter-friendly residential district. Chislehurst West has a population of around 6551 people, according to recent estimates.
AdBlue drains across Chislehurst West and Greater London
The teams that answer AdBlue calls in Chislehurst West also cover the locations round it, Chislehurst, Foxbury and Elmstead among them, and most of Greater London beyond, across the BR postcode area. Near a border, or somewhere tricky to explain? Asking is better than assuming, so phone.
Wherever your car sits — your drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — our technicians drain it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; that suits Chislehurst West, a residential suburb, well.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Chislehurst West?
Each job is different, so not one single quote is honest. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight gap behind Church of the Annunciation.
What got in, how much, and if the engine ran: each Chislehurst West enquiry begins by asking precisely that, ahead of any figure, never afterwards. Those answers turn a range into a straight price.
You hear that price on the phone, before anybody heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Chislehurst West: still next to your car?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful move you can do. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it's run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Chislehurst West or anywhere in Greater London.