AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Hawbush Green? Keep It Switched Off
If AdBlue has got into your diesel tank, leave the engine off then keep the ignition off. Water with urea mixed in it: that is AdBlue. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and nothing happens until the motor pulls it round. Caught before the motor has been run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is normally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Hawbush Green. No step comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Hawbush Green: the first few minutes
Things to do:
- Pull your keys out, and so no one switches the ignition on.
- If you're at all close to moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- So you can tell us which liquid it was and about how much, keep your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Call just where you are. Say a CM77 8 postcode or the closest street sign, and no one has to search for you.
Don't:
- Shifting your vehicle even a few yards is no reason to fire up the engine.
- Don't switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- No extra fuel added. The AdBlue won't blend, so it is wasted.
- Never drive it anywhere, not even a short distance along Hawbush Green.
- No draining it yourself, at all, at the roadside.
Moving the vehicle off the pumps is a job for staff to help with, wherever Hawbush Green forecourt you're on, the TotalEnergies or any other. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it stays exactly where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the engine. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into the exhaust gas to clean it. No part inside an injection pump is designed for this fluid — and no part of that was meant to go that way.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Lanham Green last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that hardens in filters and narrow passages; meanwhile, since it eats at certain metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains inside. Where the AdBlue is in the pipework, leaving it overnight around Hawbush Green makes it worse. In that tank only, waiting does nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The injection pump and each injector depend on diesel flowing through them, and so the water content harms them by itself.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel regularly the bigger problem?
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Texaco's forecourt makes your fuel watery — that is the whole fault. No harm is done while it stays unused, blended into the diesel — only when the motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Because it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. Whether the car sits in The Green or the heart of Hawbush Green, firing it up "to see" costs more in this case than almost any other error, and the flush matters for more. The reasons: it won't remain mixed, so diluting it fails; and deposits and corrosion outlast the next tankful.
With AdBlue, the good news is no distinct from petrol. Anywhere in Essex the vehicle has come to rest, an unstarted motor leaves the AdBlue still in the reservoir: the simplest part of a fuel system to clear.
Hawbush Green: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It's not on purpose. Many vehicles have the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel inlet, occasionally behind one flap, and muddling them up is simple in poor light. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
It tends to occur in a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Cressing Primary School. A driver tips the container in at home, right off Witham Road, as the day ends. Otherwise, after dark outside The Willows, the car is refilled by a driver using that flap for the first time.
Rented vehicles, brand-new vehicles, fleet cars, or the spare vehicle in a home with both fuels: the least known vehicles get it most. Wherever in Essex, Hawbush Green included, the slip doesn't change, and nor does the first step: keep it off.
Started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hawbush Green?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. With any running time, it travels to the injection pump and every injector, having passed through the fuel filter and lines.
Watch for rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, warnings on the dash, or a stall — returning from Notley Golf Course, say, or part way across Hawbush Green. Once safe, pull over and turn it off — without turning it on again to test. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Hawbush Green lies under 25 miles from the M11; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and stop safely instead of driving on.
Hopping across Hawbush Green to the car park by Village sign is one matter; heading for Chelmsford, under 10 miles away, is something else, because every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage matters. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after the engine has been running. Very seldom does it leave lasting damage when it is caught quickly.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Hawbush Green: what it takes
The car stays where it is, whether that is a road near Village Sign, a driveway, a layby or a filling station around Hawbush Green, and the van travels to it. The job rests on three replies, and our technicians ask for first — which fluid got in, the amount, and if the engine has run.
Then the tank is cleared where the vehicle sits, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. What remains from AdBlue won't flush away by itself, and so the whole system gets a careful flush, which counts much more here than with petrol. A test of the car comes last, after clean diesel is added and the filter is cleaned or, where needed, swapped. Engine not run? Then expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt sensible to work on, and they run quiet enough to spare the neighbours at night.
The last step is to bleed the system on clean diesel. Starting the engine comes next, and then you set off from where your car is parked, by Cressing or on a drive in Hawbush Green. We check it runs correctly on new diesel before we go. Since the job is done in its entirety where your car is, a garage never comes into it. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Hawbush Green
Hawbush Green is a small hamlet in Essex, situated inland at an elevation of around 65 metres, and is located approximately 39 miles from London. Hawbush Green is characterized by its predominantly detached housing and is near to several other small settlements, including Cressing, Tye Green, and Long Green. Hawbush Green has a population of around 573 residents and is close to the city of Chelmsford, which is about 9.5 miles away.
Hawbush Green and Essex: AdBlue drains across the area
Our teams that answer AdBlue call-outs in Hawbush Green also cover the places about it, Cressing, Tye Green and Long Green among them, and most of Essex beyond, across the CM postcode area. Near a border, or anywhere tricky to explain? Asking beats guessing, and so phone.
Hawbush Green is a rural hamlet, and a mobile drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it is, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Hawbush Green: the cost of fixing it
Not one single price could be honest, since each job differs. Three things change the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where your car is. That last one comes down to whether a van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight gap behind Cressing War Memorial.
That's why every call from Hawbush Green starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it has run. When they are answered, a range turns into one firm number.
Our price is given on the call, before a van sets off; payment comes on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. While the van is on the way, check your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Hawbush Green: still next to your car?
Right now, the best thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus whether the engine ran is everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder throughout Essex, Hawbush Green included.