Faversham: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, leave your motor off then keep your ignition off. In plain terms, AdBlue is simply urea in water. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the system pulls it in. In Faversham, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, just where the car is. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps right now, Faversham: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do:
- Pull the keys out, and so no one switches the ignition on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are anywhere near moving traffic.
- Which product, and about what volume? Save the bottle or the receipt, and we will know.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting ME13 7, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift the car: the motor stays off.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Do not top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Keep the car where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short way down East Street.
- Do not try to drain it yourself by the roadside.
Moving your car away from the island is a job for attendants to help with, wherever Faversham forecourt you're on, the Tesco included. If you're on your own drive, leave it just where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Not the engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to fresh it. No part inside an injection pump is designed for this liquid — and no part of it was meant to travel that way.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after tipped in, will not. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. When the pump runs, the AdBlue is first to be pulled through. Until then it waits beneath the diesel, which is how a vehicle topped up in Ospringe last night and never started remains the simple one, as long as nobody touches the key.
It does two kinds of damage from there. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps labouring on the parts it hits for as long as it remains there. If the AdBlue is in the lines, leaving it overnight around Faversham leaves things worse. Inside that tank only, waiting does nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel flowing past them, so the water content harms them in its own right.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's frequently worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Shell and you have a problem of thin fuel. Mixed through your diesel and sitting still, it is no threat for now; using the engine does the harm.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether your vehicle is in Copton or the heart of Faversham, turning it over "to see" costs more in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush matters for more. Why: it won't remain mixed, so diluting it is impossible; and deposits and corrosion survive the next fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Kent the car is standing.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Faversham: how it ends up there
After dark, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel cap, now and then under a single flap — can look the same. Nobody intends it; many layouts invite it. Usually it's not the forecourt: a driver buys a container heading home and tips it in at home.
Usually, it occurs in one of a couple of familiar ways. Rushing, outside St Mary of Charity CofE (Aided) Primary School, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, someone tops up the car. Near Preston Street, someone pours a bottle in on the drive in the evening. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap refills the car in dim light, stopped in the car park outside Furlongs Ale House.
Rented cars, new vehicles, fleet vehicles, or the second vehicle in a family with one of each: the least familiar cars get it most. Anywhere around Kent, Faversham included, the mistake doesn't change, and neither does the first step: keep it switched off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Faversham, and the motor started?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. With any running, it goes on to the injection pump and every injector, after passing through the filter and pipework.
Rough running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: each may appear, perhaps part way across Faversham or coming back from Faversham Recreation Ground. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. Every start pulls more of it through.
On the M2, under a mile from Faversham, the next junction is where to leave, and anywhere safe is where to park — not driving on.
Mileage matters: each mile pushes the AdBlue further into the system, so driving for Canterbury, under 10 miles away, gives a far larger job than hopping across Faversham to the car park by The Royal Cinema. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Wherever your car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out once the motor has been run. Very rarely does it leave long-term damage when it's noticed soon.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Faversham
A road by Faversham Guildhall, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: wherever your car has stopped around Faversham, our technicians travel to it. Three replies decide the work, and so before anything else our engineers ask what got in, roughly what quantity, plus if the motor has turned over.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot takes out the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, flushing counts: the whole system is flushed right through since residue won't wash out unaided. Testing the car comes last, once fresh diesel is added and the fuel filter is flushed or, where needed, replaced. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once we turn up, if your engine hasn't run. Low-noise enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The final step is to bleed the system on fresh diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where the vehicle is parked, at the nearest station or on a driveway around Faversham. We check it runs properly on fresh diesel before leaving. No workshop is required at any point, with the entire job done then and there. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Faversham
Faversham is a coastal town in Kent, situated on the north coast of the Swale estuary at an elevation of around 13 metres. Faversham lies approximately 8 miles from Canterbury and 46 miles from London, with nearby villages including The Brents, Preston, and Davington. Faversham has a population of around 19,760 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Faversham is characterised by its mix of old and new buildings, reflecting its long history and ongoing development.
AdBlue drains across Kent, Faversham included
Throughout the ME postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue jobs around Faversham serve most of Kent too, The Brents, Preston and Davington included. Assuming won't help close to a border or somewhere hard to describe; ring and check.
No moving is needed. In Faversham, a coastal town, a mobile service works: the vehicle is emptied on the spot, whether on a drive, a side street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Faversham
Each job is different, and so not one fixed price would be honest. Three things shift the cost: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where the car is. That last one rests on whether a van can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight spot behind Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre.
For that reason, each call from Faversham opens by asking the identical trio — what got in, what quantity, if the engine ran — ahead of any figure. Those answers narrow the range right down to a single figure.
The quote is quoted during the call, before anyone sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Still next to the car around Faversham?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and if it ran is everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder across Kent, Faversham included.