AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in East Boldre? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep your motor off and leave the ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. The harm starts once it is sucked through your lines — it will not ignite, and it will not combine with diesel. If your motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and thoroughly cleaned where your car sits around East Boldre. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around East Boldre
To do:
- Keys out — that way nobody can power anything on.
- If you're anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which product, and about how much volume? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and we can know.
- Call just where you are. Say a SO42 7 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to hunt for you.
Things not to do:
- Moving the car even a few yards is no reason to start your motor.
- Switching your key to ignition alone starts your pump going on plenty of diesels. Skip it.
- AdBlue does not dilute in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not thin it.
- Even a short way down Church Lane is too far to drive it.
- By the road, don't attempt draining it on your own.
Get the attendants to help you move the vehicle off the island if you are at a forecourt in East Boldre, whether it's the East Boldre Garage or elsewhere. If you are on your own drive, leave the vehicle precisely where it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not your motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Tipped in with the diesel, it keeps separate instead of mixing — entirely different from fuel. It drops, since it's denser than diesel, and settles low where the pickup takes its fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Baileys Hard last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it leaves urea that hardens in filter elements and narrow channels; and, because it attacks some metals, each part it touches suffers for as long as it remains inside. Lines carrying AdBlue mean harm by morning for a vehicle parked in East Boldre. Just inside your tank, it stays the same. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel running past them, so the water content damages them in its own right.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Asda Express's forecourt makes your fuel watery — that is the main problem. Damage just comes from driving on it. Blended into the diesel and sitting in that tank, it causes nothing.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is simply the wrong one. Since it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Nor can it be thinned, because it separates back out — and the next fill will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts more with AdBlue, and trying the engine "to see", in the centre of East Boldre or out in Keeping, costs more than almost any other mistake.
As with petrol, there's good news. If your engine has not run, the AdBlue is still in that tank, and your tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Hampshire the vehicle is sitting.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in East Boldre?
It's not deliberate. Many vehicles keep the AdBlue cap beside the diesel inlet, now and then under one flap, and mixing them up is easy after dark. A container picked up when heading home and poured in at home, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual story.
It tends to happen in a couple of familiar ways. Hurrying, outside Beaulieu Village Primary School, after a warning light came on during the school run, a parent tops up the car. After work, a container goes in on a drive close to Cripple Gate Lane. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside Turfcutters Arms, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
Hired motors, new vehicles, fleet cars, or the spare car in a family with both fuels: the least known vehicles get it the most. Wherever you are in East Boldre or the remainder of Hampshire, it's the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in East Boldre, and your engine started?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. It has been sucked through the filter and the lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to your high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, dropping power, dashboard lights or stalling: each may show up, perhaps part way across East Boldre or returning from Newhouse Moor Copse. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the vehicle to check. Every start pulls more of that through.
On the M271, under 10 miles from East Boldre, the next junction is where to exit, and anywhere sensible is where to park — not driving on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. That is why a hop across East Boldre to park near St Paul and a drive of under 10 miles towards Southampton are very different jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after the motor has been run. Spotted early, it very seldom leaves lasting damage.
East Boldre: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
A road beside East Boldre Village Hall, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: wherever the car has come to rest around East Boldre, our engineers come to it. Three replies decide the work, so before anything else our engineers ask what got in, about the amount, plus whether your motor has turned over.
Next, draining the tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue in one go. Your system is cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. After that, the fuel filter: flushed, or replaced when it must be. Then clean diesel, and then a test of the vehicle. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs where your engine hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
Last, your system is primed with fresh diesel. Whether it's a parking space outside Beaulieu Road or a drive in East Boldre, that is where our engineers start it and you drive off. Before we go, we check it is running correctly with new diesel in. We do it all wherever your car has stopped, and it never has to be taken to a workshop. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers want.
About East Boldre, for a moment
East Boldre is a small village in Hampshire, situated near the coast and close to the New Forest National Park. East Boldre has a population of around 630 people and is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock. East Boldre sits at an elevation of 36 metres, with nearby places including Hatchet Gate, Furzey Lodge, and Beaulieu, and is within easy reach of Southampton, which is approximately 7.7 miles away.
East Boldre and Hampshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Hatchet Gate, Furzey Lodge and Beaulieu are among the towns near East Boldre that the same vans serve, along with much of Hampshire further out, throughout the SO postcode area. Ring and check instead of guessing if you're by a border, or anywhere tricky to explain.
A van that comes to you fits East Boldre, a coastal village: you have no need to take the car to us, since our engineers drain it on the spot, on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
East Boldre: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
No single price would be fair, since each job is different. Three things move the price: whether the engine has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the vehicle is. That last one turns on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight space behind Beaulieu Cemetery Chapel.
That's why every call from East Boldre starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and whether it has run. Given those replies, a range narrows to a single firm figure.
Before anyone sets off, you are told our price on the phone. And you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Check your insurance whilst we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Alongside the car around East Boldre, right now?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, across East Boldre or anywhere within Hampshire.