AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hale? Don't Start It
Engine off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. As it is water-based, it will not burn and won't blend with diesel; trouble just starts once the pump begins drawing it. Caught before the engine has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Hale. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Hale: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- Keys out — that way nobody can power anything on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you're at all near moving traffic.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt shows us the fluid and the amount, so don't throw it out.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting GU9 9, or just the name of a street close by, so call from the car.
Don't do these:
- Shifting the car even a few yards is no reason to start the motor.
- Plenty of diesels run their fuel pump the moment your ignition goes on, and so leave it off.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it's pointless.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short distance up Upper Hale Road.
- Emptying your tank on your own by the road is not one to try.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move your vehicle off the pumps if you're at a forecourt around Hale, whether it is the BP or elsewhere. On that drive, the vehicle remains exactly as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is fed into the exhaust, where it treats the fumes. A fuel pump is not made to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Poured in with your diesel, it keeps apart instead of mixing — entirely unlike fuel. The intake takes fuel from the lowest part of that tank, and that's just where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. A car filled on a driveway in Badshot Lea yesterday evening and left unstarted counts as the simple case. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — but when your motor runs, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of your tank.
Two kinds of damage come from there. It eats at some metals found in fuel components, working on any part it reaches till it's removed from your system. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and settle in tiny passages. A vehicle left standing around Hale with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and each injector depend on diesel flowing past them, so the water part damages them in its own right.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the Sainsbury's, and the problem is thinned fuel. Harm just comes from driving on it. Blended into your diesel and sitting in that tank, it does none.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid as such is plainly the wrong one. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. It does not stay mixed, so it can't be weakened. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Farnham or the middle of Hale.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. If the engine has not run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and your tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Surrey the car is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Hale
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles rests right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. A container picked up when driving home and tipped in at home, instead of at the forecourt, is the typical route.
A few familiar ways cover the majority of them. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside William Cobbett Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Hale Road. Or a driver new to that flap tops up the vehicle in dim light, stopped in the car park outside The Six Bells.
The least familiar cars get it most — hire cars, brand-new cars, company cars, and the other motor of a family with one of each fuels. Wherever you are around Hale or the remainder of Surrey, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave it off.
Hale: started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. The filter and lines have had it pulled through, and any running time carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
Expect lumpy running, exhaust smoke, falling power, warnings on the dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Hale Reed Recreation Ground, perhaps, or part way across Hale. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Keep the car off instead of restarting it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Leave the M3, under 10 miles from Hale, at the next junction and park safely, not carrying on.
A quick hop across Hale to the car park by St John is one matter; heading for Winchester, under 50 miles away, is another, since each mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Once the engine has been run, the flush includes more, and all of it is done where the vehicle has stopped. Very rarely does it leave lasting damage if it's spotted quickly.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Hale
A road beside Weybourne Memorial Garden, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever the vehicle has come to rest in Hale, our technicians come to it. Which fluid went in, about how much, plus whether your motor has been run: we ask first, since those decide the work.
Right there, your tank is then drained, and all of the contaminated diesel and the urea come out at once. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, flushing counts: the whole system is flushed right through because what remains will not wash out unaided. A test of your car comes last, once clean diesel is added and the filter gets flushed or, where needed, replaced. If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our technicians are there. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no fault, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Clean diesel goes in to bleed the system, and that is the final step. Whether it's a parking bay at Farnham or a driveway in Hale, that is where our engineers start the engine and you drive off. We confirm it runs smoothly on clean diesel before we go. Our technicians do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never needs to be taken to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers want.
About Hale
Hale is a village situated on the River Wey in Surrey, with a mix of rural and suburban characteristics. Hale sits at an elevation of around 94 metres, surrounded by nearby places such as Weybourne, Heath End, and Upper Hale. Hale has a population of approximately 1633 residents, predominantly living in detached housing. Hale is located near the city of Winchester, about 25.6 miles away, and is also within commuting distance to London, around 34.3 miles away.
Hale and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
Weybourne, Heath End and Upper Hale are among the places near Hale that the same vans serve, along with most of Surrey further out, throughout the GU postcode area. If you are near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Hale is a village, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Hale: the cost of fixing it
No single figure could be fair, because every job differs. Three things shift the cost: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where your car is. That last one rests on whether our van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight space behind Weybourne Village Hall.
What went in, how much, and whether the engine ran: each Hale enquiry begins by asking precisely that, ahead of a quote, never afterwards. Their answers shrink a range right down to a single number.
Our quote is quoted on the call, before a van leaves; settling up comes on the day, by card or over the phone, and nothing upfront. While the van is travelling, dig out your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Beside the car in Hale, still?
Right now, the best thing to do with the car is to leave it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103 and tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and if it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Hale or anywhere around Surrey.