Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Horns Cross
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it does not mix with diesel, and the damage it does begins when the system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Horns Cross, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it is caught before the engine has been run. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Horns Cross: the first few minutes
Do these:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, take the keys away.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are at all close to moving traffic.
- Keep the receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting DA9 9, or just the name of a street nearby, and so call from the car.
Not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to shift your car: the motor remains off.
- Do not switch the ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Pouring in extra diesel doesn't work: AdBlue separates out instead of blending.
- Keep it where it is rather than driving it anywhere, even a short distance down Birch Place.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself by the kerbside.
The attendants on duty at any Horns Cross filling station — the Asda among them — will normally help rolling it aside if you ask. Stopped on your own driveway? Then it stays exactly as it is.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the engine. From a dedicated reservoir it is fed straight to your exhaust, cleaning what your motor emits. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Tipped in with your diesel, it stays separate rather than mixing — quite different from fuel. The pickup sucks fuel from the deepest part of that tank, and that's just where AdBlue ends up: as it is heavier than diesel, it sinks. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Crossways last night, and has not been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
Two kinds of damage come from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water evaporates, it strands urea that hardens in filter elements and tiny passages; and, because it attacks certain metals, every part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it stays in there. Pipes holding AdBlue mean damage overnight for a vehicle parked in Horns Cross. Only inside that tank, it stays the same. The water in it causes harm of its own: your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors depend on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Shell and you have a fault of thin fuel. Harm just comes from driving on it. Blended into your diesel and left inside that tank, it does none.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. It cannot just be run through, since it doesn't burn. It does not stay mixed, so it cannot be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting your motor "to see" costs more here than nearly anywhere else, whether your car is in Greenhithe or the middle of Horns Cross.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. If your engine has not run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and the tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Kent the vehicle is standing.
Horns Cross: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many vehicles waits right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It mostly happens outside the house, from a container bought en route home, not at the filling station.
Mostly, it occurs in one of a couple of familiar ways. The top-up gets rushed outside Stone St Mary's CofE Primary School, after your dash lit up with a warning while the kids were dropped off. After work, a bottle is tipped in on a driveway near Woodward Terrace. Another version: dim light, the car park outside The Bull, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
It occurs most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever in Kent, Horns Cross included, the mistake does not change, and nor does the first step: keep it switched off.
Started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank in Horns Cross?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. It's been sucked through the filter and your lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors.
You may notice the motor running roughly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Stone Recreation Ground or halfway across Horns Cross. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the vehicle to check. More of that is pulled through with each start.
On the M25, under 3 miles from Horns Cross, the first junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not carrying on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Horns Cross to the car park by Stone Parish Council is a very different job from a run towards London, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Let us know about how far it had come.
There is more to flush once the engine has been run, and we do all of it where the car has ended up. Permanent damage is very rare if it's noticed quickly.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Horns Cross
Anywhere it has come to rest in Horns Cross — a forecourt, a lay-by, a driveway, a street by Stone Park War Memorial — our van comes to your vehicle. Before anything else our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and whether your engine has run, because those answers decide this work.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one after the tank is drained, right there. Your system is rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind does not rinse out on its own. Your filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. About half an hour on site is usual for most jobs when your engine has not run. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
The final step is to bleed the fuel system on fresh diesel. After that our engineers fire it up and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside Stone Crossing or a driveway in Horns Cross. The check before our engineers head off is that it runs correctly on new diesel. We do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never has to be taken to a garage. Your insurer will want an engineer's report and the VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Horns Cross itself
Horns Cross is a suburban area in Kent, situated lakeside at an elevation of 37 metres, with a mix of residential and natural environments. Horns Cross is located near several notable places, including Stone, Bluewater, and Darenth Valley, and is approximately 17 miles from central London. Horns Cross has a population of around 2213 people, predominantly residing in flat-type housing. Horns Cross is part of the wider South East region, with London being the nearest major city.
AdBlue drains around Horns Cross and across Kent
Stone, Bluewater and Darenth Valley are among the towns near Horns Cross that the same vans serve, along with most of Kent beyond, over the DA postcode area. Near a boundary, or anywhere awkward to explain? Checking is better than guessing, and so phone.
Anywhere your vehicle stands — your drive at home, a side street, a car park, a forecourt — our engineers empty it there, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Horns Cross, a residential suburb, well.
Horns Cross: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Since each callouts vary, a flat price would not be fair. The price changes first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether our van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight gap behind Bluewater Ice Skating Rink.
Ahead of any quote, not afterwards, each enquiry from Horns Cross begins with three checks: the fuel, the quantity, and if the engine ran. Their answers narrow a range right down to one figure.
Before a van sets off, you are told the quote on the phone. Then payment is on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Still beside the vehicle around Horns Cross?
Not touching the car is, then, the most useful move you can do. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder, across Horns Cross or anywhere in Kent, once you ring 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and if the engine ran.