AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Hook? Don't Start It
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, keep your engine off then leave the ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when your fuel system draws it in. In Hook, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before your motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank in Hook
Do:
- Pull the keys out, and so nobody switches the ignition on.
- If you're at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which product, and roughly what amount? Hang on to the bottle or your receipt, and our engineers can see.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting KT9 1, or the name of the nearest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Do not:
- No starting your motor — not for a second, not to reposition the car.
- Turning your key to ignition by itself sets your pump running on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- No more fuel added. The AdBlue will not blend, and so it is pointless.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short distance along Devon Way.
- Draining the tank yourself beside the road is not one to try.
On a forecourt in Hook, whether it is the JET or another one, ask the attendants to help you push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Not your engine but the exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, and there it treats the gas. A fuel pump is not designed to cope with it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It drops, since it is denser than diesel, and pools low where the intake draws its fuel from. Easiest of all: one that got AdBlue in Hinchley Wood last night and has not been started since. The liquid sits at the base of that tank, undrawn — though it would be the first thing through if the engine runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of harm from there. It attacks certain metals found in fuel components, working on any part it reaches until it is removed completely. And when the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that clog filters and settle in tiny channels. A vehicle left sitting in Hook with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue just in its tank is not. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is often more significant than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Shell's forecourt makes the fuel thin — that is the whole issue. No harm is done as long as it sits unused, blended into the diesel — only once your engine runs on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits back out — and the next fill won't rinse away deposits or corrosion. So the flush matters for more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Hook or out in Claygate, does more harm than nearly any other mistake.
As with petrol, there is good news. Not started? Then the AdBlue sits only inside that tank, the easiest section of the entire system to clear, wherever the vehicle has stopped around Greater London.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank in Hook?
Many motors put the AdBlue cap beside the diesel cap, occasionally behind a single flap, and after dark the two may look the same. Nobody intends it. Mostly it is never the filling station: a driver buys a container heading home and pours it in outside the house.
The ways it takes place are few and familiar. The refill is hurried outside Lovelace Primary School, after the dash flashed with a warning while the kids were dropped in. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Newlands Way. Or the car is topped up in the car park at The Cricketers, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
It comes up the most in a hire car, a new motor, a company car, or the other motor in a home with one of each fuel types — the vehicles drivers use the least. Leave it off: that is the first step to the same slip, wherever in Hook or the remainder of Greater London you happen to be.
Hook: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. With any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and each injector, after passing via your filter and pipework.
Expect rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on your dash, or a stall — coming back from Woodgate Avenue Playground, say, or part way across Hook. No starting it again to test: stop when it is safe, then switch it off. With each start, more of that is pulled through.
Hook lies under 5 miles from the M25; if you were on it, leave at the first junction and stop safely instead of driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Hook to the car park by St Paul is a very different job from a run towards Westminster, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with every mile. Tell us about how far it had come.
Once the engine has been run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the car has come to a stop. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage when it is caught quickly.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves in Hook
The car stays put, whether that's a road near Hook and Chessington Library, a drive, a layby or a forecourt around Hook, and our van comes to it. Three answers decide the work, and so first our technicians ask which fluid went in, about what quantity, plus whether the engine has turned over.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel and the AdBlue in one go. A full flush counts much more with AdBlue than after petrol, because residue won't wash away by itself. The filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once our technicians get there, if the engine hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
Last, your system is bled with fresh diesel. Starting the engine comes next, and then you head off from where the vehicle is parked, at Chessington North or on a driveway around Hook. The test before we head off is that it runs correctly on new diesel. No workshop is required at any stage, with the entire job done on the spot. The insurer is likely to want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Hook and where it is
Hook is a suburban area in southwest Greater London, situated on the riverside at an elevation of around 35 metres. Hook is located near several other suburban areas, including Chessington, Southborough, and Long Ditton, and is approximately 12.5 miles from central London. Hook has a population of around 5113 people and is characterised by semi-detached housing. Hook sits within the wider London urban area, close to Westminster, which is about 12.2 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Hook and Greater London
Over the KT postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue call-outs in Hook reach most of Greater London too, Chessington, Southborough and Long Ditton included. Assuming won't help close to a county line or anywhere tricky to describe; ring and check.
Wherever your car stands — a drive at home, a side street, a car park, a filling station — we empty it on the spot, with no need to take it to us; which suits Hook, a residential suburb, well.
Hook: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Each job differs, and so no single quote would be fair. Three things change the cost: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether our van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight gap behind Hook Centre.
What was put in, what quantity, and whether the engine ran: each Hook enquiry begins with exactly those, ahead of any quote, not afterwards. The replies turn a range into a straight quote.
You hear that quote on the phone, before anybody sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Check your policy whilst we're on the way: plenty carry misfuelling cover.
Hook: still beside the car?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful thing open to you. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Call 0333 366 0103 then tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Hook or anywhere around Greater London.