Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Clanfield
Engine off, ignition off: that is how you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. As it is water-based, it will not ignite and won't blend with diesel; trouble only starts when your pump starts drawing it. Caught before your motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Clanfield. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do right now, Clanfield: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- Pocket your keys, and that stops anyone turning the power on.
- Near moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and about how much.
- Call just where you are. Quote a PO8 0 postcode or the nearest street name, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Never do these:
- Shifting your vehicle just a short way is no reason to start the motor.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the instant the ignition comes on, and so leave the car off.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue will not blend, so it's wasted.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short way up East Meon Road.
- No emptying it yourself, at all, on the verge.
Moving your vehicle off the island is a job for staff to help with, wherever Clanfield forecourt you are on, the Morrisons or any other. On the drive, your car stays exactly as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in the engine. Stored in a dedicated tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to treat the fumes. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
It does not combine. Once it's tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It drops, since it is heavier than diesel, and settles low where the intake takes its supply from. When the system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Until then it sits beneath the diesel, which is how a vehicle topped up in Chidden yesterday and not switched on stays the simple case, as long as nobody touches the key.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. What is left when the water evaporates is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in tiny channels and clog filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in the fuel system, and carries on until it's flushed out. Pipes holding AdBlue mean damage by morning for a vehicle parked in Clanfield. Only inside your tank, it stays stable. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water offers no lubrication, and that is a second form of harm.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more serious than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Esso's forecourt makes the fuel watery — that's the main problem. Mixed into the diesel and left unused, it is harmless for now; using your engine does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Not burning, it cannot just be run through. Whether the car is in Horndean or the centre of Clanfield, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than almost any other error, and the flush matters more. The reasons: it won't remain mixed, so watering it down is impossible; and crystals and corrosion survive the following fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. If the engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and that tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Hampshire the vehicle is standing.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Clanfield
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars waits right next to your diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. Hurrying, outside Clanfield Junior School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, a parent refills the vehicle. Near Chalton Lane, someone tips a container in at home after work. Another version: dim light, the car park outside The Rising Sun, and a driver opening that flap the first time.
It crops up most in a rental, a brand-new motor, a company car, or the spare car in a family with both fuels — the cars people use the least. Keep it switched off: that is the first response to an identical mistake, anywhere in Clanfield or the rest of Hampshire you are.
Clanfield: started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. With any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed via the fuel filter and pipework.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or cutting out: any may show up, perhaps part way across Clanfield or coming back from Garden of Remembrance. Stop when safe. Turn off. Keep it off rather than restarting it to check. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Clanfield lies under 3 miles from the Waterlooville Bypass; if you were on it, exit by the first junction and stop somewhere safe rather than driving on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue deeper in. That's why a hop across Clanfield to park near St James and a drive of under 15 miles for Portsmouth are such distinct jobs. Tell us about how far it had come.
Once your engine has been started, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where your car has ended up. Spotted quickly, it very seldom leaves long-term damage.
Clanfield: how AdBlue is cleared from a diesel
Wherever it has come to rest around Clanfield — a forecourt, a lay-by, a drive, a road beside St James' Church Hall — the van travels to the car. The work rests on three replies, and our technicians get first — what was put in, the quantity, and whether the motor has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave together after that tank is emptied, right there. The fuel system is purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If your engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we arrive. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
The last step is to prime your system on new diesel. After that we start the engine and you drive off, whether from a parking bay at Rowlands Castle or a driveway in Clanfield. Before we go, our engineers make sure it's running correctly with new diesel in. No workshop is needed at any stage, with the entire job done then and there. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Clanfield itself
Clanfield is a small village in Hampshire, situated inland at an elevation of 109 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Clanfield lies near the South Downs, close to the villages of Catherington, Chalton, and Blendworth, and is approximately 11 miles from the city of Portsmouth. Clanfield has a population of around 511 people, and its rural setting provides a quiet environment for residents. Clanfield is also within commuting distance of London, being around 54 miles from the capital.
Clanfield and Hampshire: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue jobs around Clanfield go to teams that cover the towns around it — Catherington, Chalton as well as Blendworth — and much of Hampshire further out, throughout PO postcodes. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Clanfield is a rural village, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Clanfield?
There's no honest single quote, since the jobs are not the same. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it turns on where your car is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Clanfield Memorial Hall.
Which fluid got in, how much, plus if the engine ran: each Clanfield call begins by asking precisely that, before any figure, never after. Their replies narrow a range down to a single number.
The price is quoted on the call, before anyone leaves; payment comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. While our engineer is travelling, check your policy: many include misfuelling.
In Clanfield and still beside the vehicle?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to leave it. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Clanfield or wherever within Hampshire.