Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Great Parndon
Engine off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. The trouble begins once it's pulled through your lines — it won't ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Great Parndon, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your engine has run. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Great Parndon, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do straight away
Things to do:
- Take the keys out, and so no one switches your ignition on.
- If you are anywhere close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt shows us the product and the quantity, so don't throw it out.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting CM19 4, or the name of the closest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Do not start your motor, even for a moment to move the car.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the instant the ignition comes on, so keep it off.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't thin it.
- Leave the vehicle where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance up Holly Field.
- No emptying it yourself, either, on the roadside.
The attendants working at any Great Parndon filling station — the BP included — will usually help rolling it aside if you ask. At home, the car remains exactly as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is designed to handle it.
Poured in with the diesel, it stays apart rather than blending — entirely unlike fuel. Denser than diesel, it drops and pools below it — the very spot the pickup sucks from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Sumners last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
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, and so it keeps working on the parts it gets to for as long as it stays there. A motor left standing around Great Parndon with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank is not. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and every injector depend on diesel flowing past them, and so the water part damages them in its own right.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more serious than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake at the Texaco, and the issue is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's inside that tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is plainly the wrong one. It does not burn, and so it cannot just be run through. Whether the car is in Kingsmoor or the centre of Great Parndon, firing it up "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other mistake, and the flush matters more. The reasons: it won't remain mixed, so watering it down fails; and crystals and corrosion survive the next tankful.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest part on any fuel system, and with no running, the AdBlue remains in it — anywhere around Essex the car sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Great Parndon
In dim light, two caps together — the AdBlue cap and the diesel one, now and then behind one flap — can look the same. No one means it; plenty of layouts allow it. A container bought when driving home and poured in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the typical route.
A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. Hurrying, outside Jerounds Primary Academy, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, a parent tops up the vehicle. Close to Pyenest Road, a driver pours a container in on that drive after work. One more pattern: darkness, the car park outside The Three Horseshoes, and someone opening that flap the first time.
Rented motors, new motors, company cars, or the spare vehicle in a family with both fuels: the least known cars see it most. Wherever around Essex, Great Parndon included, the slip does not change, and nor does the first response: leave it switched off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Great Parndon?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. Given any running time, it goes on to the high-pressure pump and every injector, having passed via your filter and lines.
Lumpy running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: any might show up, perhaps midway across Great Parndon or returning from Copse Hill Playing Field. When safe, pull over and switch everything off — with no restarting to see. Each start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M11, under 3 miles from Great Parndon, at the next junction and park somewhere safe, not driving on.
Distance matters: every mile carries the AdBlue further into the system, so heading for Chelmsford, under 25 miles away, makes a much larger job than hopping across Great Parndon to the car park by Stone Carving 1. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where the car has ended up, and once the engine has been run there is more of it. Noticed quickly, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Great Parndon?
Anywhere it has come to rest around Great Parndon — a filling station, a layby, a driveway, a road beside Stone Carving 2 — our van comes to the car. What got in, roughly how much, plus if the engine has been run: our technicians ask first, since those shape the job.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one after that tank is emptied, on the spot. The fuel system is purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Clean diesel goes in after your filter is flushed — or swapped, when it needs to be — and then the car is tested. Engine not run? Then expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. Our 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.
The last step is to prime the system on clean diesel. Whether it is a parking space at Harlow Town or a driveway around Great Parndon, that is where our engineers fire it up and you drive off. Before we go, our engineers make sure it is running properly with clean diesel in. Our engineers do it all wherever the vehicle has stopped, and it never has to be taken to a workshop. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Great Parndon, briefly
Great Parndon is a suburban area in Essex, situated on the riverside with an elevation of around 64 metres. Great Parndon lies near several other localities, including Passmores, Katherines, and Hare Street, and is located approximately 16.7 miles from Chelmsford. Great Parndon has a population of around 6432 people, predominantly residing in terraced housing. Great Parndon is also within commuting distance of London, being around 19.5 miles from the city.
AdBlue drains in Great Parndon and across Essex
Throughout the CM postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs around Great Parndon serve much of Essex too, Passmores, Katherines and Hare Street included. Assuming doesn't help close to a border or somewhere tricky to pin down; ring and ask.
Great Parndon is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it sits, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Great Parndon
Since each jobs vary, a flat figure would not be fair. What moves the cost is, firstly, whether the motor has run and for how long; then how much AdBlue was put in; and after that where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight space behind War Memorial.
Ahead of any figure, never after, every enquiry from Great Parndon begins with three questions: the liquid, the quantity, plus whether the engine ran. Their replies shrink a range right down to one number.
Quoted on the call before the engineer heads out, the job is paid for on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we are on the way.
Alongside the vehicle around Great Parndon, still?
Then the most useful thing you can do is nothing to the vehicle. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, across Great Parndon or anywhere in Essex, once you ring 0333 366 0103 saying it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if it ran.