Hemblington Corner: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's where you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. It does not burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the system pulls it in. If the motor has not run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually emptied and thoroughly flushed where the vehicle stands in Hemblington Corner. First, call us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do right now, Hemblington Corner: AdBlue in your diesel tank
To do:
- Keys out — then no one can power anything on.
- Put your hazards on if you are at all near moving traffic.
- Which product, and roughly how much volume? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and our engineers can see.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting NR13 4, or the name of the closest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Don't start the motor, even for a moment to move your car.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the instant the ignition goes on, and so keep it off.
- No more fuel on top. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it's pointless.
- Do not drive it anywhere, not even a short way up Cuttons Corner.
- No draining it yourself, either, on the roadside.
Get the attendants to help you roll the vehicle away from the pumps if you're on a forecourt around Hemblington Corner, whether it's the Shell or somewhere else. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle exactly where it stands.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no place in your motor. Stored in a dedicated tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to treat the gases. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
It does not blend. After it's poured into a tank of diesel, AdBlue acts nothing like fuel. The intake sucks fuel from the lowest part of the tank, and that is just where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. A vehicle topped up on a drive in Blofield Corner yesterday evening and not started since is the simple one. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up yet — though when the motor runs, that's what is pulled first, directly from the bottom of that tank.
From there it causes two kinds of damage. What remains once the water goes is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in tiny passages and clog filters. On top of that, it eats at certain metals in a fuel system, and keeps going until it's flushed out. Overnight, a car sitting in Hemblington Corner with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; where it is only inside that tank, it doesn't. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water gives no lubrication, and that is a second kind of damage.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is frequently worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the JET and you have a problem of thin fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and while it is in that tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running your motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is simply the wrong one. It does not burn, so it cannot simply be run through. Nor can it be thinned, since it separates again — and the following tankful will not clear away deposits or corrosion. So the flush counts more here, and turning the key "to see", in the heart of Hemblington Corner or out in Blofield, does more harm than nearly any other slip.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on any fuel system, and without start-up, the AdBlue remains in it — wherever around Norfolk your car sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Hemblington Corner: how it ends up there
Many cars put the AdBlue filler beside the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap, and in dim light the two may appear the same. Nobody intends it. Mostly it's never the filling station: someone buys a bottle heading home and pours it in at home.
A couple of familiar ways cover most cases. Rushing, outside Hemblington Primary School, after a warning lamp flashed on during the school run, a parent tops up the vehicle. In the evening, a bottle goes in on a driveway close to Hemblington Hall Road. Or a driver new to that flap tops up the car after dark, stopped in the car park outside the pub in the village.
The least familiar vehicles see it the most — rentals, new cars, fleet cars, and the other vehicle in a family with one of each fuel types. Wherever you're around Hemblington Corner or the remainder of Norfolk, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hemblington Corner?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. Your filter and pipework have had it pulled through, and any running time carries it on to the injection pump and each injector.
You may notice your engine running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, possibly on the way back from Walsham Wood or halfway across Hemblington Corner. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart it to check. Each start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M11, over 50 miles from Hemblington Corner, at the next junction and park safely, not driving on.
Hopping across Hemblington Corner to the car park by Hemblington Village Sign is one thing; heading for Norwich, under 10 miles away, is another, because every mile carries the AdBlue further in. So mileage counts. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out after the engine has been started. When it is spotted soon, long-term damage is very uncommon.
Hemblington Corner: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
The vehicle stays where it is, whether that is a street near Pedham Green Village Sign, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt around Hemblington Corner, and our van travels to it. The work depends on three answers, which our technicians ask for first — what was put in, the amount, and whether the engine has turned over.
Then the tank is cleared where the car waits, and so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush matters much more with AdBlue than with petrol, since residue will not wash away by itself. Fresh diesel goes in once the filter is cleaned — or swapped, if it needs to be — and after that your vehicle is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when the motor has not run. Quiet enough to use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
Lastly, your system is bled with new diesel. Whether it is a parking bay at Brundall or a driveway around Hemblington Corner, that is where our engineers fire it up and you head off. Our engineers confirm it runs properly on clean diesel before leaving. Because the job is done in full where your car is, a workshop never comes into it. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — both yours afterwards.
About Hemblington Corner and where it is
Hemblington Corner is a suburban area located in Norfolk, situated approximately 6.9 miles from Norwich and 103.7 miles from London. Hemblington Corner sits at an elevation of 19 metres, amidst the gently rolling countryside of eastern England. Hemblington Corner is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock, with nearby villages including Hemblington, Pedham, and Blofield Heath.
AdBlue drains in Hemblington Corner and across Norfolk
AdBlue jobs around Hemblington Corner go to teams that serve the towns near it — Hemblington, Pedham plus Blofield Heath — and most of Norfolk further out, throughout NR postcodes. Guessing doesn't help close to a border or somewhere hard to describe; ring and ask.
No towing is needed. In Hemblington Corner, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you works: your car is emptied on the spot, be it on a driveway, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
Hemblington Corner: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There is no fair single price, since the jobs are not the same. Whether the engine has run, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the cost. How much AdBlue went in comes next, and then the location of your car, because an open driveway is easier for a technician to get to safely than a tight spot behind Blofield Heath Village Sign.
For that in mind, each call from Hemblington Corner opens by asking the identical trio — which fluid was put in, what quantity, if it ran — ahead of a figure. Given those replies, a range shrinks to one fixed number.
Quoted by phone before the van sets out, it is settled on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. As our engineer is on the way, check your insurance: many include misfuelling.
Hemblington Corner: still beside the car?
Right now, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to not touch it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Hemblington Corner or wherever in Norfolk, after you ring 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran.