Hurtmore: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank, keep your motor off and leave the ignition off. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. The trouble starts once it's pulled through the pump — it will not ignite, and it won't combine with diesel. Caught before your motor has run, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally a drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Hurtmore. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Your next steps right now, Hurtmore: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Do these:
- Pull your keys out, so no one switches the ignition on.
- Put your hazards on if you are anywhere close to moving traffic.
- Keep your receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what was put in and roughly how much.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting GU7 2, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Do not start your engine, even for a moment to shift the car.
- Plenty of diesels power their pump the instant the ignition comes on, and so leave the vehicle off.
- Pouring in extra diesel does not work: AdBlue separates out instead of blending.
- Never drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance down Priorsfield Road.
- By the road, do not attempt emptying it yourself.
Get the people behind the counter to help you move your vehicle off the island if you are at a forecourt around Hurtmore, whether it is the Shell or somewhere else. On your own driveway, do not move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Not the engine but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Its own reservoir holds it, and from there it is sprayed into the exhaust, where it treats the gas. Neither side fits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and an injection pump can't deal with urea.
It doesn't combine. Once it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. Easiest of all: one that had AdBlue in Westbrook last night and hasn't turned since. The liquid sits at the foot of the tank, untouched — but it will be the first thing through once your motor runs, ahead of any diesel at all.
It does two kinds of damage from there. It eats at some metals used in fuel systems, working on any part it touches until it's cleared completely. And when the water evaporates, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and lodge in narrow channels. Pipes holding AdBlue spell damage overnight for a car parked around Hurtmore. Only inside the tank, it stays the same. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel flowing past them, and so the water content harms them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's often worse than petrol
An issue of thinned fuel is what you get after fuelling a diesel with petrol from the JET. It mixes with the diesel, and whilst it is inside that tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running the engine on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the liquid itself is simply the wrong one. It does not burn, and so it can't just be run through. Whether the car sits in Shackleford or the centre of Hurtmore, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than nearly any other error, and the flush matters for more. The reasons: it will not remain mixed, so watering it down fails; and deposits and corrosion survive the next tankful.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. Anywhere around Surrey the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun motor leaves the AdBlue yet in the reservoir: the easiest bit of any fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Hurtmore: how it ends up there
It's not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles have the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap, and mixing them up is simple after dark. It usually happens outside the house, from a bottle grabbed on the journey home, rather than at the forecourt.
It tends to take place in a couple of familiar ways. The refill gets hurried outside Loseley Fields Primary School, after the dash lit up with a warning while the children were dropped in. Someone tips the bottle in at home, right off Hurtmore Road, as the day ends. Else, in dim light by The Squirrel Inn, the vehicle gets refilled by a driver opening that flap for the first time.
It happens most in the vehicles drivers know least: a hire car, a new vehicle, a company car, or the second motor of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Leave it off: that is the first response to the same mistake, anywhere around Hurtmore or the remainder of Surrey you happen to be.
Hurtmore: started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer inside the tank. It's been pulled through the fuel filter and the lines, and if your motor ran for any time, it has reached your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
Rough running, smoke, lost power, dashboard lights or stalling: each may show up, maybe midway across Hurtmore or returning from Hurtmore Golf Club. No restarting to test: pull over when it is safe, then turn everything off. Each start pulls more of that through.
On the M3, under 10 miles from Hurtmore, the first junction is where to leave, and somewhere safe is where to stop — not driving on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across Hurtmore to the car park by Queen's Sport Centre is a very different job from a run towards Chichester, under 50 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
We do all of the rinsing where the vehicle has stopped, and once your engine has been started there is more of it. Caught early, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Hurtmore?
The vehicle remains put, whether that's a road near Compton Village Hall, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt around Hurtmore, and the van travels to it. Which fluid went in, about how much, and if the motor has turned over: we check before all else, since those decide the work.
Then the tank is cleared where the car sits, so the tainted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. A careful flush matters much more with AdBlue than with petrol, since residue will not wash out by itself. Testing your car comes last, after clean diesel is added and your filter gets cleaned or, where needed, swapped. Engine not run? In that case expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a busy forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house at night.
Clean diesel goes in to prime the fuel system, and that is the last step. Then our technicians start it and you set off, whether from a parking space outside Godalming or a driveway around Hurtmore. Before we leave, our technicians confirm it's running properly with new diesel in. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never has to go to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Hurtmore and where it is
Hurtmore is a small village in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of around 103 metres. Hurtmore lies approximately 30 miles south-west of London and is close to the nearby settlements of Binscombe, Norney, and Frith Hill. Hurtmore has a population of around 932 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing. Hurtmore is also near the city of Chichester, which is about 26 miles away.
Hurtmore and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
Throughout the GU postcode area, the vans answering AdBlue jobs around Hurtmore reach most of Surrey as well, Binscombe, Norney and Frith Hill included. If you are close to a boundary, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than assuming.
No towing is needed. In Hurtmore, a rural village, a mobile service fits: the vehicle is emptied where it stands, whether on a drive, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
Hurtmore: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Since each jobs differ, a single figure wouldn't be honest. Three things shift the cost: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where your car is. That last one turns on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open driveway is simpler than a tight spot behind Hampton Manor.
Before any figure, never afterwards, every call from Hurtmore begins with three checks: the liquid, the amount, and whether the engine ran. Their replies shrink the range down to one figure.
Priced by phone before the van sets out, the job is settled on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Check your insurance whilst we're on the way: plenty include misfuelling cover.
Hurtmore: still alongside the car?
Then, the most helpful thing to do with your car is to leave it. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Hurtmore or wherever within Surrey.