AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Great Amwell? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when your fuel system pulls it in. Caught before the engine has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Great Amwell. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Great Amwell
Do:
- So nobody can turn the ignition on, pull your keys away.
- If you are anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Which product, and roughly how much quantity? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and we will know.
- Give us a postcode starting SG12 9, or whatever street is nearest, and our van finds you straight — so ring wherever you are.
Things not to do:
- Shifting your vehicle just a few yards is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Many diesels run their pump the instant your ignition comes on, and so leave the vehicle off.
- Adding more diesel does not help: AdBlue settles out rather than thinning.
- Never drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance along St Johns Lane.
- Beside the road, do not try draining it yourself.
Ask the attendants to help you roll your car off the island if you're on a forecourt around Great Amwell, whether it's the Gulf or elsewhere. On that drive, the vehicle remains just where it was left.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. From a separate reservoir it is fed directly to your exhaust, cleaning what your motor lets out. A fuel pump is not designed to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after tipped in, will not. The behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. Easiest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Hailey last night and hasn't turned since. The liquid waits at the base of your tank, untouched — but it would be first through if your engine starts, before any diesel at all.
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 is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, so it keeps working on the components it gets to for as long as it remains there. By daybreak, a vehicle parked around Great Amwell with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; where it is just in your tank, it doesn't. Then there's the water: it offers no protection to the components that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is frequently worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Esso and you have a fault of thin fuel. No damage comes while it stays unused, mixed into your diesel — only when the motor runs on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable substance. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits again — and the following fill won't clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts for more with AdBlue, and turning your key "to see", in the centre of Great Amwell or out in Rush Green, costs more than nearly any other mistake.
As with petrol, there is good news. Anywhere across Hertfordshire the car has come to rest, an unstarted motor leaves the AdBlue yet in the tank: the simplest bit of any fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Great Amwell?
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue one and the diesel one, now and then behind one flap — may look the same. No one means it; plenty of designs invite it. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
Mostly, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. Rushing, outside St John the Baptist Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School, after a warning light came on during the school run, someone tops up your car. After work, a container goes in on a driveway close to Madgeways Close. Else, after dark by The George IV, the car gets topped up by someone opening that flap the first time.
It crops up most in a rental, a new motor, a fleet motor, or the other car of a home with both fuel types — the cars people use the least. An identical slip, same first response — keep it switched off — anywhere you are in Great Amwell or the rest of Hertfordshire.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Great Amwell?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. Given any running time, it travels to the injection pump and each injector, having passed via the filter and lines.
Maybe coming back from Post Wood, or part way across Great Amwell, the motor may go rough, smoke, drop pace, light up the dash or stall. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Keep the car off instead of restarting it to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Great Amwell lies under 10 miles from the M11; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and pull up safely instead of driving on.
Every mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system. That is why crossing Great Amwell to park near St John the Baptist and a drive of under 15 miles towards St Albans are such different jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once the motor has been run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where your car has ended up. If it is spotted soon, permanent damage is very rare.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Great Amwell
Our technicians come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Great Amwell: a side street near War Memorial, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. The work depends on three replies, which we get first — which fluid went in, the quantity, and whether your engine has turned over.
Right there, the tank is then emptied, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea come out as one. A full flush counts far more with AdBlue than after petrol, since residue won't wash out on its own. A test of your car follows at the end, after clean diesel is added and the filter gets cleaned or, where needed, swapped. Engine not run? Then expect roughly half an hour on site for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps make a live forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the street at night.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that's the last step. You drive off as soon as our technicians have started the engine, and it makes no difference whether the car is on a driveway around Great Amwell or in a bay at St Margarets (Herts). Before leaving, our engineers confirm it's running smoothly with new diesel in. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a garage. Afterwards, you are given paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Great Amwell itself
Great Amwell is a village in Hertfordshire, situated on the lakeside at an elevation of 53 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Great Amwell lies approximately 20 miles north of London and 14 miles southeast of St Albans, within a network of nearby places including Presdales, St Margarets, and Stanstead Abbotts. Great Amwell has a population of around 1017 residents, living in a quiet lakeside setting. Great Amwell benefits from its rural location, while still being accessible to larger urban areas.
Great Amwell and Hertfordshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout the SG postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue jobs in Great Amwell serve much of Hertfordshire too, Presdales, St Margarets and Stanstead Abbotts included. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of guessing.
Great Amwell is a village, and a call-out drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it stands, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Great Amwell
Each job differs, so no single price would be fair. Three things change the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether our van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight gap behind St Margaretsbury Sports & Social Club.
For that reason, every enquiry from Great Amwell opens by asking the identical trio — which fluid went in, how much, whether the engine ran — ahead of any quote. When they are answered, a range turns into one firm number.
Before anyone sets off, you are told our quote by phone. And payment is on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Check your policy whilst we're on the way: many carry misfuelling cover.
Beside the vehicle in Great Amwell, right now?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, right now, the best move open to you. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder, in Great Amwell or anywhere in Hertfordshire, after you phone 0333 366 0103 saying it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether it ran.