Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Dover
Engine off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the fuel system pulls it in. If your engine has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually emptied and carefully purged where the vehicle sits around Dover. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
Dover, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do right away
Things to do:
- So no one can switch your ignition on, pull the keys away.
- If you are at all near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Which product, and about what volume? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and our technicians will know.
- Give us a postcode starting CT16 1, or whatever street lies closest, and the van reaches you straight — so ring from wherever you are.
Don't do these:
- Shifting your car even a few yards is no reason to fire up the motor.
- Switching the key to ignition alone starts the pump running on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Don't drive the car anywhere, not even a short distance up Ladywell.
- Emptying the tank on your own beside the road isn't one to try.
The staff on duty at any Dover forecourt — the BP included — will normally help pushing it clear if you ask. On that drive, your car remains just as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. From a dedicated tank it goes straight to your exhaust, treating what the motor emits. A fuel pump is not made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Poured in with the diesel, it keeps separate instead of blending — entirely unlike fuel. The intake takes fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that is exactly where AdBlue ends up: being denser than diesel, it sinks. A car topped up on a drive in Western Heights yesterday evening and left unstarted counts as the straightforward case. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up so far — though when your motor turns, that's what goes first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
Two kinds of harm come from there. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in tiny channels and block filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in the fuel system, and keeps going until it is flushed out. Lines holding AdBlue mean harm by morning for a car sitting around Dover. Only in that tank, it stays stable. The water in it causes damage of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water offers them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more major than petrol
A fault of thin fuel is what you get after filling a diesel with petrol at the Shell. Damage just comes from running on it. Mixed into your diesel and sitting in the tank, it causes nothing.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. It doesn't stay mixed, so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in St Radigunds or the middle of Dover.
As with petrol, there is good news. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside your tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Kent the vehicle is standing.
Dover: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
After dark, two caps side by side — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap — may look the same. Nobody intends it; many layouts allow it. Usually it is never the forecourt: someone buys a bottle driving home and pours it in outside the house.
A couple of familiar ways account for most cases. Rushing, outside St Richard's Catholic Primary School, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, someone refills your car. Near Priory Hill, someone tips a container in at home after work. One more version: dim light, a pub car park by Sir John Falstaff, and someone opening that flap the first time.
The least familiar cars see it most — rentals, brand-new cars, fleet cars, and the other motor in a family with one of each fuel types. Wherever in Kent, Dover included, the slip does not change, and nor does the first response: leave it switched off.
Dover: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. Through the filter, through the pipework, and — with any running time — into the high-pressure pump and every injector: that is how far it travels.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, falling power, lights on your dash, or a stall — returning from Pencester Gardens, perhaps, or midway across Dover. No restarting to test: stop when safe, then turn everything off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
On the M20, under 10 miles from Dover, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to stop — not driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system. That is why crossing Dover to park near The Maison Dieu and a drive of under 15 miles for Canterbury are very different jobs. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once the motor has been run, and our technicians do all of it where your car has come to a stop. Very seldom does it leave lasting damage if it is caught early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Dover?
The vehicle remains where it is, whether that's a road near War Memorial, a driveway, a layby or a filling station in Dover, and the van comes to it. The work depends on three replies, which our technicians get before all else — what went in, the quantity, and if the engine has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one after that tank is emptied, on the spot. Residue from AdBlue won't wash out by itself, so the fuel system gets a full flush, which matters much more here than with petrol. Next, the filter: cleaned, or replaced if it must be. After that fresh diesel, then a test of your car. If the engine has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Fresh diesel goes in to bleed your system, and that's the last step. Whether it's a parking bay at Dover Priory or a driveway in Dover, that is where we start it and you head off. The check before we leave is that it runs correctly on fresh diesel. Our technicians do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never needs to go to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come afterwards.
About Dover and where it is
Dover is a coastal town in Kent, situated on the English Channel at an elevation of around 12 metres. Dover sits approximately 67 miles southeast of London and 14 miles southeast of Canterbury, with nearby residential areas including Victoria Park Mews and Clarendon. Dover has a mix of housing types, but terraced housing is predominant in the town. Dover is a significant urban centre in the region, with a population of around 23,196 people.
Dover and Kent: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue call-outs in Dover are passed to vans that cover the places near it — Victoria Park Mews, Clarendon plus Tower Hamlets — and most of Kent beyond, across CT postcodes. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Dover is a coastal town, and a mobile drain suits it: whether the vehicle 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 shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Dover: the cost of fixing it
Every job is different, and so no single price would be fair. Three things move the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one rests on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is easier than a tight space behind St Edmund's Chapel.
What went in, how much, and whether the engine ran: each Dover call opens by asking exactly that, ahead of any figure, not after. Given those replies, a range shrinks to one fixed number.
Before a van heads out, you are told our price on the phone. Then you pay on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Check your policy while we're on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
Dover: still beside the vehicle?
Not touching the car is, then, the most useful thing open to you. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus whether the engine ran are everything we need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout Kent, Dover too.