Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Church End
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. Being water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble just starts once your pump begins drawing it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Church End, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the engine has been run. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Church End: the first few minutes
Do:
- Pull your keys out, so no one switches your ignition on.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- Keep your receipt or the empty bottle, so you can tell us what got in and roughly how much.
- Our van finds you quickest with a postcode starting LU6 1, or just the name of a street close by, so call from the car.
Things not to do:
- Do not start the engine, even for a moment to shift your car.
- Turning the key to ignition alone starts your pump running on many diesels. Avoid it.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Do not drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance along Ellesmere Close.
- Do not try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
At a forecourt around Church End, whether it's the BP or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the car away from the pump. If you are on your own drive, leave the car precisely where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Kept in a separate tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to clean the fumes. Nothing in an injection pump is designed for this fluid — and no part of it was meant to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. Denser than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the very place the intake sucks from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Beecroft last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
After it's pulled in, the damage takes two forms. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and narrow passages; and, because it attacks certain metals, every part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it stays inside. By daybreak, a car parked in Church End with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; if it is just inside your tank, it doesn't. The water in it does harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more serious than petrol
A fault of thin fuel is what you end up with after filling a diesel with petrol from the Esso. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is inside the tank it does no harm; the harm comes from running the engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. It cannot simply be run through, because it does not burn. Crystals and corrosion stay after the following tankful, and AdBlue splits back from the diesel, and so watering it won't work. That is why the flush counts so much, and trying your engine "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other slip — in Moor End or the heart of Church End alike.
As with petrol, there is good news. Never started? Then the AdBlue waits only in your tank, the simplest section of the whole system to clear, anywhere your car has come to rest across Bedfordshire.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Church End?
It is not deliberate. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, occasionally under a single flap, and mixing them up is easy in poor light. It usually happens at home, from a bottle bought on the journey home, not at the forecourt.
A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. The top-up gets hurried outside Totternhoe Church of England Academy, because the dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped in. In the evening, a container is tipped in on a driveway close to Well Head Road. Else, in dim light outside The Old Farm Inn, the vehicle gets refilled by someone opening that flap the first time.
The least known vehicles get it the most — rentals, brand-new ones, company ones, and the spare vehicle of a family with one of each fuel types. Anywhere in Bedfordshire, Church End as well, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first response: leave it switched off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Church End?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. The filter and pipework have had it sucked through, and some running carries it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Perhaps returning from Totternhoe Conservation Area, or part way across Church End, the motor may run lumpy, smoke, lose pace, flash the dash or cut out. Pull over when safe. Switch off. Keep the vehicle off instead of testing it again. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M1, under 5 miles from Church End, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
Hopping across Church End to the car park by Site of Roman Villa is one thing; heading for St Albans, under 15 miles away, is something else, because each mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. So mileage counts. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out once the motor has been run. Spotted soon, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
Church End: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
Anywhere it has come to rest in Church End — a filling station, a lay-by, a driveway, a road by St Giles Church Hall — our van comes to your car. Which fluid was put in, about how much, plus whether the engine has turned over: our engineers check before all else, since those decide the job.
Next, emptying the tank right there takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. A careful flush counts much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because residue will not wash away by itself. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Roughly half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when the motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
New diesel goes in to bleed the system, and that is the last step. Then we start the car and you set off, whether from a parking bay by Cheddington or a driveway around Church End. The check before we head off is that it runs correctly on new diesel. As the job is done in full where the vehicle is, a garage never comes into it. At the end, you are given the paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Church End, briefly
Church End is a suburban area in Bedfordshire, situated inland at an elevation of 116 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type. Church End lies approximately 31.6 miles from London and 12.9 miles from St Albans, placing it within commuting distance of both cities. Church End is surrounded by nearby places such as Totternhoe, Well Head, and Middle End, and has a population of around 664 residents. Church End forms a small but distinct community within the wider area.
AdBlue drains across Church End and Bedfordshire
The teams that answer AdBlue calls in Church End also cover the spots around it, Totternhoe, Well Head and Middle End among them, and most of Bedfordshire beyond, across the LU postcode area. Phone and check rather than guess if you are by a county line, or somewhere tricky to explain.
Wherever the vehicle stands — your drive at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — our technicians empty it on the spot, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Church End, a residential suburb, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Church End: the cost of fixing it
Each job differs, and so not one single price would be fair. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where the vehicle is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight gap behind St Giles.
What went in, what quantity, and if it ran: every Church End call begins with precisely that, ahead of a figure, not after. Given those replies, the range narrows to a single fixed number.
Before a van heads out, you hear our quote on the phone. And you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. While the van is on the way, check your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Church End: still alongside your car?
In that case, touch nothing — that's the best step available. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Church End or wherever within Bedfordshire, once you phone 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, about how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.