AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hassocks? Don't Start It
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you start if AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the fuel system pulls it in. In Hassocks, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your engine runs usually comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, just where the car is. Phone 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Hassocks, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Do:
- Take your keys out, and so no one switches the ignition on.
- Near moving traffic? So put the hazard lights on.
- Hold on to the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Our van locates you quickest with a postcode starting BN6 8, or simply the name of a street nearby, so phone from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift the vehicle: your engine remains off.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra diesel won't weaken it.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short stretch down Keymer Road.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
The attendants on duty at any Hassocks filling station — the Esso included — will normally lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. At home, the vehicle stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your motor. From a separate tank it goes directly to your exhaust, treating what your engine lets out. Not one side suits the other: urea does not belong in a pump, and a pump cannot take urea.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after poured in, will not. Its behaviour is nothing like diesel's. It sinks, because it's denser than diesel, and pools down where the pickup draws its supply from. Simplest of all: one that had AdBlue in Ditchling last night and hasn't been started since. The AdBlue waits at the foot of that tank, undrawn — though it would be first through if the motor starts, before any diesel at all.
After it's drawn in, the damage comes in two forms. What remains when the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in narrow channels and clog filters. Worse, it eats at certain metals in the fuel system, and keeps going until it's flushed out. Overnight, a vehicle sitting around Hassocks with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; if it is just in the tank, nothing changes. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and every injector as it passes; water gives none of that, which is a separate kind of damage.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel frequently the bigger issue?
Put petrol in a diesel at the Tesco and you have a problem of thin fuel. No damage is done while it stays put, mixed into the diesel — only when your motor works on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable liquid. It doesn't burn, so it cannot just be run through. Whether the vehicle is in Hurstpierpoint or the heart of Hassocks, firing it up "to see" costs more in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush matters for more. The reasons: it will not remain mixed, so watering it down fails; and crystals and corrosion outlast the following tankful.
The same good news applies as with petrol. Anywhere in West Sussex the car has come to rest, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue still inside the tank: the easiest part of any fuel system to empty.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Hassocks?
It is not deliberate. Many vehicles keep the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, occasionally behind one flap, and muddling them up is easy after dark. A bottle bought while driving home and tipped in at home, rather than at the forecourt, is the usual story.
A few familiar ways account for the majority of them. Hurrying, outside Hassocks Infant School, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, someone refills the car. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Station Approach East. One more pattern: darkness, the car park by The Hassocks, and a driver using that flap for the first time.
The least familiar vehicles see it most — hire cars, new ones, fleet cars, and the spare car in a family with both fuels. Anywhere across West Sussex, Hassocks as well, the mistake doesn't change, and nor does the first step: leave it off.
Hassocks: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. Given any running time, it goes on to the injection pump and each injector, having passed through your filter and lines.
You may notice your motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from The Banjo or halfway across Hassocks. Once you safely can, pull over then turn everything off — without restarting to see. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M23, under 15 miles from Hassocks, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
Mileage counts: every mile carries the AdBlue further into the system, and so heading for Brighton and Hove, under 10 miles away, makes a far bigger job than hopping across Hassocks to the car park by Age Concern Day Centre. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out once the engine has been running. Spotted soon, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Hassocks?
A street by Adastra Hall, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever your car has come to rest around Hassocks, our engineers come to it. Three answers decide the job, and so before anything else our engineers ask which fluid got in, roughly the amount, plus if the engine has run.
Right there, that tank is then emptied, and all of the contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one. A careful flush matters far more after AdBlue than with petrol, because residue will not clear out by itself. A test of the car follows at the end, once clean diesel is added and the fuel filter is cleaned or, where needed, swapped. If the motor hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Finally, the fuel system is bled with clean diesel. At that point our engineers fire it up and you head off, whether from a parking space at the nearest station or a drive around Hassocks. It is tested on new diesel to confirm it runs correctly before our engineers head off. As the job is done in full where the car is, a garage never comes into it. At the end, there is paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Hassocks and where it is
Hassocks is a village in West Sussex, situated approximately 7 miles north of Brighton and Hove, and about 40 miles south of London. Hassocks sits in a relatively low-lying area, with an elevation of around 50 metres, and is surrounded by nearby places such as Keymer, Clayton, and Hurst Wickham. Hassocks has a population of approximately 3167 people, and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
Hassocks and West Sussex: AdBlue drains across the area
Our vans that answer AdBlue jobs in Hassocks also cover the locations about it, Keymer, Clayton and Hurst Wickham among them, and most of West Sussex beyond, across the BN postcode area. Guessing doesn't help by a border or somewhere tricky to describe; phone and check.
No moving is needed. In Hassocks, a rural village, a van that comes to you fits: your car is drained where it stands, whether in a drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Hassocks: the cost of fixing it
Because each callouts differ, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. Whether the motor has been running, and for how long, comes first in what changes the price. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of the vehicle, because an open driveway is simpler for a van to reach safely than a tight space behind The Weald Lawn Tennis and Squash Racquets Club.
Ahead of any figure, not afterwards, each call from Hassocks begins with three questions: the fuel, the amount, plus if the engine ran. With those replies, a range narrows to one firm number.
Before a van heads out, you are told the price by phone. And payment is on the day, card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. While our engineer is travelling, dig out your policy: plenty include misfuelling.
Hassocks: still next to your car?
Right now, the best thing to do with your car is to leave it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Hassocks or wherever within West Sussex.