AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Harpesford? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has got into the diesel tank, keep the motor off and leave your ignition off. AdBlue is urea mixed in water. Being water-based, it will not burn and never combines with diesel; damage only comes when your pump starts drawing it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is around Harpesford, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before your engine has run. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Harpesford
Things to do:
- Keys out — that way no one can power anything on.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put your hazards on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and about what quantity, keep the till receipt or the empty bottle.
- The van locates you quickest with a postcode starting GU25 4, or just the name of a street nearby, and so call from the car.
Do not do these:
- No starting your motor — not briefly, not to reposition the vehicle.
- Switching the key to ignition by itself sets your pump going on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue will not mix, so it's wasted.
- Do not drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short way down Wellington Avenue.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the roadside.
Moving your car off the island is a job for staff to help with, whichever Harpesford forecourt you're on, the Shell included. At home, the vehicle stays just as it was left.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. Its own tank holds it, and from there it's fed into the exhaust, where it cleans the gas. Neither side suits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and a pump can't take urea.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. Simplest of all: a vehicle that had AdBlue in Virginia Water last night and has not been started since. The liquid sits at the foot of that tank, undrawn — but it will be first through once the motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of harm 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 running on the components it reaches for as long as it stays there. Lines carrying AdBlue spell harm by morning for a vehicle parked in Harpesford. Just inside that tank, it stays stable. And there's the water: it brings no protection to the parts that need it the most — the high-pressure pump and each injector.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
A fault of thinned fuel is what you end up with after fuelling a diesel with petrol from the BP. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it's inside the tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running the motor on it.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong substance. Not burning, it can't just be run through. It does not stay mixed, and so it cannot be weakened. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your engine "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in St Anns Heath or the middle of Harpesford.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the simplest job on a fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever in Surrey the vehicle sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Harpesford: how it ends up there
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many motors sits right next to the diesel filler, occasionally under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
Usually, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. The top-up gets rushed outside Trumps Green Infant School, after the dash flashed with a warning as the kids were dropped in. Close to Crown Road, a driver pours a bottle in on the drive in the evening. Another pattern: dim light, a pub car park by the pub in the village, and someone opening that flap the first time.
The least known cars see it most — rentals, brand-new ones, fleet ones, and the other car in a home with one of each fuels. Wherever in Surrey, Harpesford included, the mistake does not change, and nor does the first step: keep it switched off.
AdBlue in the diesel tank around Harpesford, and the engine started?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside your tank. It's been sucked through your filter and your lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has got to your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
Perhaps coming back from King George V Recreation Ground, or midway across Harpesford, the motor might go rough, smoke, lose power, flash the dash or stall. When you safely can, pull over then turn it off — without turning it on again to see. Each start pulls more of it through.
Harpesford lies under a mile from the M3; if you were on it, exit at the next junction and stop safely instead of driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Harpesford to the car park by Virginia Water Community Centre is a very different job from a run towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the motor has been running. Noticed quickly, it very seldom leaves long-term damage.
Harpesford: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
The car remains put, whether that's a street near British Legion, a drive, a lay-by or a filling station around Harpesford, and our van travels to it. The job depends on three answers, and our engineers ask for first — which fluid went in, the amount, and whether your engine has run.
Next, draining the tank right there takes out the contaminated diesel and the AdBlue in one go. The fuel system is cleaned thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. A test of the car comes at the end, after fresh diesel is added and the filter gets cleaned or, where needed, swapped. Engine not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
The final step is to bleed the system on new diesel. You drive off as soon as our technicians have started the car, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a drive in Harpesford or in a space by Virginia Water. It is tested on clean diesel to be sure it runs correctly before our engineers leave. No workshop is required at any point, with the whole job done then and there. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers ask for.
About Harpesford and where it is
Harpesford is a suburban area in Surrey, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 42 metres, with detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Harpesford lies approximately 20.8 miles from London and is close to nearby places such as Knowle Hill and Trumps Green. Harpesford has a population of around 1965 residents and is characterized by its quiet, residential atmosphere. Harpesford is also near Knowle Grove, which adds to its scenic surroundings.
AdBlue drains across Surrey, Harpesford included
Knowle Hill, Knowle Grove and Trumps Green are among the places around Harpesford that the same vans serve, together with much of Surrey further out, throughout the GU postcode area. Assuming won't help by a border or somewhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
Wherever your car stands — a drive at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — we empty it on the spot, and there's no need to take it to us; which suits Harpesford, a residential suburb, well.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Harpesford: the cost of fixing it
Each job is different, and so no fixed price is honest. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the position of the car, because an open driveway is easier for a technician to get to safely than a tight space behind Harvesttime Church.
Before any quote, not afterwards, every call from Harpesford begins with three checks: the fuel, the amount, and whether it ran. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
Our price is quoted on the call, before anyone leaves; payment happens on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover comes with many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Still next to the car around Harpesford?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with your vehicle is to not touch it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Harpesford or wherever in Surrey.