AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Fontwell? Keep It Switched Off
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then keep your motor off — and the ignition as well. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Being water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; damage only comes once the pump begins pulling it. Caught before your engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Fontwell. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Fontwell: the first few minutes
Do these:
- So nobody can turn your ignition on, take your keys away.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which product, and about how much volume? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our technicians will see.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting BN18 0, or the name of the closest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Do not:
- No starting your motor — not for a second, not to reposition the car.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the moment your ignition comes on, so leave it off.
- Pouring in extra diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out rather than blending.
- Leave the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way up Arundel Road.
- By the road, do not try draining it on your own.
At a forecourt around Fontwell, whether it's the Shell or another one, ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle clear of the petrol pump. If you are on your own drive, leave it exactly where it stands.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not your engine. Kept in a separate tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to clean the gases. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
It does not combine. Once it is poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. A car filled on a driveway in Slindon Common yesterday evening and left unstarted counts as the straightforward one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — though when the motor runs, that is what goes first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
Two kinds of damage come from there. What remains when the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in tiny passages and block filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going till it is cleared out. Where the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting overnight around Fontwell leaves things worse. Inside that tank only, time costs nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel running past them, so the water part damages them in its own right.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Top up a diesel with petrol in error at the Esso, and the problem is thinned fuel. Harm just comes from driving on it. Mixed into your diesel and left in that tank, it causes none.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is simply the wrong one. It does not burn, so it can't simply be run through. Deposits and corrosion stay through the next fill, and AdBlue splits again out of the diesel, so watering it can't help. Hence the flush counts so much, and turning your key "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other mistake — in Nyton or the centre of Fontwell alike.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Anywhere in West Sussex the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun motor means the AdBlue yet in the reservoir: the simplest bit of a fuel system to empty.
Fontwell: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of motors rests right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A bottle picked up when driving home and poured in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual route.
A few familiar ways account for the majority of them. Midway through the drop-off, the dashboard warns, and outside Slindon CofE Primary School the refill is hurried. Close to Smith Close, someone tips a container in at home in the evening. Another version: darkness, a pub car park by The Old Stables, and someone opening that flap for the first time.
It crops up most in a hire car, a new vehicle, a fleet car, or the other vehicle in a family with both fuels — the vehicles drivers know least. Anywhere around West Sussex, Fontwell included, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first response: leave it switched off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Fontwell?
The AdBlue has left the tank, then. Via your filter, through the pipework, and — given any running — into the high-pressure pump and every injector: that's how far it travels.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard warnings or stalling: each may appear, maybe midway across Fontwell or returning from Denmans Garden. Stop when safe. Turn off. Leave the car off rather than restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
Exit the Waterlooville Bypass, under 25 miles from Fontwell, by the first junction and park safely, rather than carrying on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue further into the system. That is why a hop across Fontwell to park beside Fontwell Park Racecourse and a drive of under 10 miles towards Chichester are very distinct jobs. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Our technicians do all of the flushing where your car has stopped, and once the motor has been started there is more of it. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage if it's spotted early.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Fontwell?
The car remains where it is, whether that's a street near Eastergate Village Hall, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt in Fontwell, and the van comes to it. Before anything else our engineers ask what went in, about how much, and whether the engine has run, since those replies settle the work.
Then your tank is drained where your car waits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Your system is rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Fresh diesel goes in once the filter is flushed — or swapped, when it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when your motor has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
New diesel goes in to prime your system, and that's the last step. After that our technicians start the engine and you drive off, whether from a parking space at Barnham or a driveway in Fontwell. It's tested on new diesel to make sure it runs properly before our engineers leave. Because the job is done in full where the car is, a garage never comes into it. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Fontwell
Fontwell is a small village in West Sussex, situated inland near the South Downs and approximately 5.7 miles from Chichester. Fontwell sits at a relatively low elevation of around 25 metres, surrounded by nearby places such as Little Heath and Slindon. Fontwell has a population of around 505 people, predominantly living in detached houses. Fontwell is also located about 50.4 miles from London, making it a rural community within commuting distance of the capital.
AdBlue drains across West Sussex, Fontwell included
Little Heath, Slindon and Eastergate are among the places near Fontwell that the same teams serve, along with much of West Sussex further out, throughout the BN postcode area. Assuming won't help by a county line or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
A van that comes to you suits Fontwell, a rural village: there's no need to bring the car to us, because we empty it on the spot, on a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Fontwell
Since each jobs differ, a single price wouldn't be honest. What changes the price is, firstly, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue went in; and after that where the vehicle is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight spot behind St Mary's Church.
Before a quote, not afterwards, every call from Fontwell opens with the same three checks: the fuel, the amount, plus if the engine ran. Once those are answered, a range becomes a single fixed figure.
The price is quoted during the call, before a van leaves; payment comes on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing upfront. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it's worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Fontwell: still alongside the car?
In that case, touch nothing — that is the best move available. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus whether it ran is all we ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest throughout West Sussex, Fontwell included.