Fulflood: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the system draws it in. In Fulflood, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where your car is. First, ring us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Fulflood: the first few minutes
Do:
- So no one can turn the ignition on, take the keys out.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and roughly how much, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring right where you are. Quote a SO22 6 postcode or the closest street name, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Do not drive the car anywhere, not even a short distance down Langton Close.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the verge.
Moving the car away from the pumps is a job for staff to help with, wherever Fulflood forecourt you're on, the Esso included. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it remains just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing inside an injection pump is made for this liquid — and none of that was intended to go that way.
Tipped in with the diesel, it stays apart rather than blending — quite unlike fuel. The pickup sucks fuel from the lowest part of that tank, and that's exactly where AdBlue settles: as it is denser than diesel, it sinks. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Sleepers Hill overnight and hasn't been started since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of the tank, undrawn — but it will be first through if the motor starts, before any diesel at all.
From there it causes two kinds of harm. It eats at some metals used in fuel components, working on any part it touches until it's cleared from your system. And when the water goes, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow channels. Where the AdBlue has reached the lines, leaving it overnight around Fulflood makes it worse. Inside that tank only, waiting does nothing. Then there is the water: it offers no lubrication to the components that need it the most — the injection pump and each injector.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger problem?
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the BP, and the issue is diluted fuel. Damage only comes from driving on it. Mixed into the diesel and left inside the tank, it does none.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. Because it does not burn, running it through is not an option. Crystals and corrosion stay after the following tankful, and AdBlue separates back out of your diesel, and so thinning it won't work. Hence the flush matters so much, and trying the engine "to see" costs more here than nearly any other mistake — in Abbotts Barton or the centre of Fulflood equally.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Never run? Then the AdBlue sits only inside that tank, the simplest section of the entire system to empty, anywhere the car has stopped around Hampshire.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Fulflood: how it ends up there
Many cars place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap, and in dim light the two can appear the same. No one means it. It mostly occurs outside the house, from a bottle grabbed on the journey home, rather than at the filling station.
A couple of familiar ways account for most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Western Church of England Primary School. Close to Stockbridge Road, someone tips a container in on the drive in the evening. One more pattern: darkness, the car park outside Roebuck Inn, and someone opening that flap the first time.
It takes place most in the motors motorists know least: a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever around Hampshire, Fulflood as well, the slip does not change, and neither does the first step: leave it switched off.
Fulflood: started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left that tank. Given any running, it travels to the high-pressure pump and every injector, after passing via the fuel filter and lines.
You may see your engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Oram's Arbour or halfway across Fulflood. When safe, pull over and switch it off — without restarting to test. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Exit the M3, under 3 miles from Fulflood, at the next junction and park safely, rather than carrying on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Fulflood to the car park by Westgate Badminton Centre is a very different job from a run towards Winchester, under a mile away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with each mile. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
There's more to rinse out once the engine has run, and our engineers do all of it where the car has come to a stop. When it's noticed early, long-term damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Fulflood?
Our technicians come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Fulflood: a side street near Winchester Tennis and Squash Club, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three answers shape the job, and so first our technicians ask which fluid was put in, roughly what quantity, plus whether your motor has run.
Right there, the tank is then drained, and all of the contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one. A full flush matters much more after AdBlue than with petrol, because residue will not clear out by itself. Testing your car comes at the end, once fresh diesel goes in and your filter gets cleaned or, where needed, swapped. If the engine hasn't run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once we are there. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a busy filling station is no fault, and it is hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
Finally, the system is bled with new diesel. At that point our engineers fire it up and you drive off, whether from a parking bay at Winchester or a driveway in Fulflood. The check before our technicians head off is that it runs properly on clean diesel. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never needs to be taken to a garage. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Fulflood
Fulflood is a suburban area situated near the city of Winchester in Hampshire, with Fulflood being a predominantly residential community at an elevation of 69 metres. Fulflood sits close to nearby places such as Weeke, West Hill, and Hyde, and Fulflood is characterized by its terraced housing. Fulflood is located approximately 60 miles from London, with Fulflood being part of the larger Winchester urban area.
Fulflood and Hampshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Over the SO postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue call-outs in Fulflood reach most of Hampshire too, Weeke, West Hill and Hyde among them. Near a border, or somewhere awkward to pin down? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring.
A van that comes to you fits Fulflood, a residential suburb: you have no need to bring your vehicle to us, because our technicians empty it on the spot, on a drive, a residential street, a car park or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Fulflood
Not one single figure could be honest, since each job differs. Three things change the price: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one rests on whether our van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight spot behind Saint Paul's Church.
What was put in, what quantity, plus if the engine ran: every Fulflood call begins with precisely those, ahead of any figure, never afterwards. Their replies narrow the range right down to one number.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, it is paid for on the day — card or phone, no deposit. As our engineer is on the way, check your policy: many include misfuelling.
Alongside the vehicle in Fulflood, still?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with the car is to not touch it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, in Fulflood or anywhere in Hampshire, once you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran.