AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Hedgerley? Keep It Switched Off
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does your engine. Water with urea mixed in it: that's AdBlue. Not like fuel, it neither ignites nor mixes, and nothing happens until the engine pulls it round. In Hedgerley, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the engine runs usually means a drain and a thorough flush, just where the car is. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hedgerley: the first few minutes
Do:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, pull your keys out.
- Put the hazards on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Which fluid, and roughly what quantity? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and our technicians can see.
- Call right where you are. Quote a SL2 3 postcode or the closest street name, and no one has to search for you.
Never:
- Don't start the engine, even for a moment to shift the vehicle.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant your ignition comes on, so leave the vehicle off.
- Pouring in more diesel doesn't work: AdBlue settles out rather than thinning.
- Leave the vehicle where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance along Stevenson Road.
- By the road, don't attempt draining it on your own.
The attendants working at any Hedgerley filling station — the Shell among them — will usually help rolling it clear if you ask. If you are on your own drive, leave the vehicle precisely where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your engine but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. From a dedicated tank it goes straight to your exhaust, cleaning what the engine emits. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. Denser than diesel, it sinks and collects below it — the very place the intake draws from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Farnham Common last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
Two kinds of damage come from there. It attacks some metals used in fuel components, working on whatever it reaches till it's removed from the system. And once the water goes, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in tiny passages. A motor left standing around Hedgerley with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank isn't. Diesel protects the injection pump and every injector as it flows; water offers none of that, which is a second kind of damage.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more significant than petrol
A fault of thin fuel is what you end up with from filling a diesel with petrol from the BP. Mixed into your diesel and sitting unused, it's harmless for now; running the engine does the harm.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Since it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. Deposits and corrosion remain after the following tankful, and AdBlue splits back from the diesel, and so thinning it won't help. That is why the flush matters more, and trying the engine "to see" costs more with AdBlue than almost any other mistake — in Hollybush Hill or the heart of Hedgerley alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Not started? Then the AdBlue waits just in the tank, the easiest section of the whole system to clear, anywhere your vehicle has stopped around Buckinghamshire.
Hedgerley: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Plenty of motors place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and after dark the two can appear identical. Nobody means it. Usually it's never the forecourt: someone picks up a container heading home and pours it in at home.
Usually, it takes place in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up happens in a hurry outside Farnham Common Junior School. Close to Gregory Road, someone tips a container in at home in the evening. Another pattern: dim light, a pub car park by The White Horse, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
It occurs most in the cars drivers know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever in Buckinghamshire, Hedgerley included, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first step: keep it off.
Started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Hedgerley?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in that tank. The filter and pipework have had it sucked through, and any running carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
You may see the motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, maybe on the way back from Kiln Wood or halfway across Hedgerley. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the car to check. Each start pulls more of that through.
On the M40, under a mile from Hedgerley, the next junction is where to exit, and anywhere safe is where to park — not driving on.
Mileage counts: every mile pushes the AdBlue further into the system, so heading towards St Albans, under 25 miles away, makes a far larger job than crossing Hedgerley to the car park by Hedgerley Memorial Hall. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
There is more to flush once your engine has run, and our engineers do all of it where the car has ended up. Permanent damage is very uncommon if it's noticed quickly.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves in Hedgerley
Our engineers come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Hedgerley: a side street near St Mary the Virgin, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. What was put in, about the quantity, and if the engine has turned over: our engineers check before all else, because those decide the work.
Then that tank is emptied where the vehicle sits, so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. With AdBlue, far more than with petrol, the flush counts: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through since residue won't flush away by itself. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Engine not run? In that case expect roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. Our pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live filling station is no problem, and it's quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
Last, your system is primed with new diesel. Whether it is a parking bay outside Gerrards Cross or a drive around Hedgerley, that is where our engineers start it and you head off. Before we leave, our technicians make sure it's running smoothly with fresh diesel in. We do it all wherever your car has ended up, and it never needs to be taken to a garage. At the end, there is the paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Hedgerley and where it is
Hedgerley is a small village in Buckinghamshire, situated inland at an elevation of 92 metres, with Hedgerley Hill and Hedgerley Green nearby. Hedgerley has a population of around 910 people, predominantly living in semi-detached houses. Hedgerley is located near the village of Egypt and is close to the larger city of St Albans, which is 16.8 miles away. Hedgerley is also within commuting distance of London, being approximately 21 miles from the capital.
AdBlue drains across Buckinghamshire, Hedgerley included
Over the SL postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue call-outs in Hedgerley serve much of Buckinghamshire too, Hedgerley Hill, Hedgerley Green and Egypt among them. Assuming won't help by a county line or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
A mobile service suits Hedgerley, a rural village: you have no need to take your vehicle to us, because our technicians drain it on the spot, on a drive, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
Hedgerley: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Each job is different, so no single price is honest. Three things change the cost: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the car is. That last one comes down to whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open drive is simpler than a tight space behind Templars' site at Moat Farm.
For that reason, every enquiry from Hedgerley opens by asking the identical trio — what was put in, how much, whether the engine ran — before a quote. Those replies narrow a range down to one number.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, the job is paid for that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. As the van is travelling, dig out your policy: many cover misfuelling.
In Hedgerley and still alongside the vehicle?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your car is to leave it. Engine off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel takes over, in Hedgerley or wherever within Buckinghamshire.