Elmbridge: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, keep your engine off and leave your ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. The trouble begins once it's sucked through your pump — it will not ignite, and it will not combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Elmbridge, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before the engine has been run. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Elmbridge
Do these:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- Near moving traffic? Then put your hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt tells us the product and the quantity, and so don't bin it away.
- Tell us a postcode starting GL2 0, or whatever street lies nearest, and the van finds you straight — so ring wherever you stand.
Not to do:
- Don't start the engine, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Your ignition stays off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't weaken it.
- Even a short distance up Elmbridge Road is too far to drive it.
- Emptying the tank on your own by the road is not one to try.
Rolling the vehicle away from the pumps is a job for attendants to help with, whichever Elmbridge forecourt you are on, the Esso included. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. 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 designed to handle it.
It doesn't combine. After it is tipped into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It drops, since it's heavier than diesel, and settles down where the pickup takes its supply from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Kingsholm 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.
From there it does two kinds of harm. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that crystallises in filter elements and narrow channels; and, because it eats at some metals, every part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. Lines carrying AdBlue mean harm overnight for a car parked in Elmbridge. Just inside that tank, it stays the same. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector depend on diesel flowing past them, and so the water content harms them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
An issue of thin fuel is what you get after fuelling a diesel with petrol at the BP. Blended into the diesel and sitting still, it's harmless for now; using the engine does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is a problem of the wrong substance altogether. It does not burn, and so it can't simply be run through. Crystals and corrosion remain after the following fill, and AdBlue splits again out of your diesel, and so thinning it can't work. Hence the flush matters so much, and turning the key "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other slip — in Longford or the centre of Elmbridge equally.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Wherever in Gloucestershire the car has come to rest, an unstarted motor leaves the AdBlue still inside the tank: the simplest bit of a fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Elmbridge?
It is not on purpose. Plenty of cars have the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then under one flap, and mixing them up is simple after dark. Mostly it is not the forecourt: a driver buys a container heading home and pours it in outside the house.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. The refill is rushed outside Longlevens Junior School, because your dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped off. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Windermere Road. Or a driver unfamiliar with that flap refills the vehicle in dim light, stopped in the car park by The Teddy.
It takes place most in the cars drivers know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Leave it switched off: that is the first response to the same slip, anywhere in Elmbridge or the rest of Gloucestershire you happen to be.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Elmbridge?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. The filter and lines have had it sucked through, and some running takes it on to the injection pump and every injector.
Maybe coming back from Memorial Woodland, or part way across Elmbridge, the motor might go lumpy, smoke, lose power, flash the dash or cut out. No restarting to test: pull over once safe, then switch it off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
On the M5, under 3 miles from Elmbridge, the next junction is where to exit, and anywhere safe is where to park — not carrying on.
A quick hop across Elmbridge to the car park by Parish Church Hall is one matter; heading towards Gloucester, under 3 miles away, is another, because every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So distance matters. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Once the motor has been started, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where your car has stopped. Very seldom does it leave permanent damage if it is spotted soon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Elmbridge?
The car remains where it is, whether that is a street near Holy Trinity, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt around Elmbridge, and the van comes to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what got in, about how much, and if the motor has run, since those replies settle this work.
Next, draining your tank on the spot removes the contaminated diesel along with the AdBlue together. The fuel system is rinsed thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. After that, the fuel filter: cleaned, or changed when it has to be. After that fresh diesel, and then a test of your car. Not run? Then count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Priming the system with new diesel comes last. You set off as soon as our engineers have started it, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive around Elmbridge or in a bay at Gloucester. It's tested on fresh diesel to make sure it runs properly before our technicians leave. Since the job is done in its entirety where the car is, a workshop never comes into it. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Elmbridge itself
Elmbridge is a suburban area located on the outskirts of Gloucester, situated near the River Severn at an elevation of 22 metres. Elmbridge sits in close proximity to nearby places such as Longlevens, Wotton, and Barnwood, and is characterized by its predominantly semi-detached housing stock. Elmbridge is a relatively small community, with a population of approximately 6403 residents, and is within easy reach of Gloucester city centre, being just 1.6 miles away.
Elmbridge and Gloucestershire: AdBlue drains across the area
AdBlue jobs around Elmbridge are passed to vans that serve the towns around it — Longlevens, Wotton as well as Barnwood — and much of Gloucestershire further out, across GL postcodes. Guessing won't help close to a border or anywhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
A mobile service suits Elmbridge, a residential suburb: there's no need to take the car to us, because we drain it on the spot, on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Elmbridge: the cost of fixing it
Each job is different, and so not one single quote would be honest. What changes the cost is, firstly, whether your engine has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and then where your car is and whether a technician can reach it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight spot behind Longlevens Community Centre.
Before any quote, not afterwards, every call from Elmbridge begins with three checks: the fuel, the amount, plus if the engine ran. Given them, a range narrows to one fixed number.
Our quote is given on the call, before a van sets off; payment happens on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. Plenty of insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it's worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
Still alongside the vehicle around Elmbridge?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, across Elmbridge or wherever in Gloucestershire, after you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether it ran.