AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Key Street? Don't Start It
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then leave the engine off — and your ignition too. Urea mixed in water is what AdBlue is. Unlike fuel, it neither ignites nor blends, and no harm starts until your motor pulls it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is around Key Street, is generally what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before your motor has run. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Key Street: the first few minutes
Do these:
- So nobody can turn your ignition on, pull your keys away.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is at all near.
- Hold on to the till receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Our van finds you fastest with a postcode starting ME10 1, or just the name of a street close by, and so phone from the car.
Don't do these:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to reposition the car.
- Do not switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Leave the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short distance along Dental Close.
- Don't try to drain the vehicle yourself at the roadside.
The staff working at any Key Street filling station — the Texaco included — will normally lend a hand rolling it aside if you ask. Parked on your own drive? Then it stays just as it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not the motor but your exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is fed into the exhaust, and there it treats the gas. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
It doesn't combine. Once it is tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like diesel. It's heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A motor filled on a driveway in Cold Harbour overnight and left unstarted counts as the straightforward one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — but once the motor runs, that is what is pulled first, straight from the bottom of your tank.
It does two kinds of damage from there. What is left when the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they settle in narrow channels and block filters. On top of that, it attacks certain metals in a fuel system, and keeps going until it's cleared out. Overnight, a vehicle parked around Key Street with AdBlue through its pipework grows worse; if it's just in your tank, nothing changes. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and every injector as it passes; water offers no lubrication, which is a second form of harm.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error at the another forecourt nearby, and the issue is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and while it's in the tank it causes no damage; the harm comes from running your motor on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely wrong substance. Since it doesn't burn, running it through is not an option. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush matters 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 Chestnut Street or the middle of Key Street.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Anywhere around Kent your car has stopped, an unstarted engine leaves the AdBlue still in the reservoir: the simplest bit of any fuel system to clear.
Key Street: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars waits right next to the diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It usually occurs at home, from a bottle grabbed en route home, rather than at the filling station.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. Rushing, outside Borden Church of England Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, a parent tops up the car. In the evening, a bottle goes in on a driveway close to Greensleaves Avenue. Or someone unfamiliar with that flap tops up the car in dim light, stopped in the car park by The Long Hop.
Rented cars, new motors, fleet motors, or the spare car in a family with both fuels: the least known vehicles get it the most. Same mistake, an identical first step — leave it off — wherever you happen to be around Key Street or the remainder of Kent.
AdBlue in your diesel tank around Key Street, and the engine started?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer in your tank. It's been drawn through the filter and the lines, and if the engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors.
Watch for lumpy running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — returning from Grove, say, or part way across Key Street. When you safely can, stop and switch everything off — with no restarting to test. Each start pulls more of that through.
Key Street lies under 3 miles from the M2; if you were on it, exit at the first junction and stop safely rather than driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further in. That is why crossing Key Street to park beside Borden Church and a drive of under 15 miles towards Southend-on-Sea are very separate jobs. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the rinsing where the car has come to a stop, and once the engine has been run there is more of it. Permanent damage is very unusual when it's noticed quickly.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Key Street: what it takes
Wherever it has come to rest around Key Street — a filling station, a lay-by, a driveway, a street by Bobbing Church — our van travels to your car. Three replies shape the job, so first our technicians ask which fluid got in, about what quantity, and whether your engine has turned over.
Next, draining your tank on the spot removes the polluted diesel along with the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is cleaned right through since residue won't flush out unaided. The fuel filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. Engine not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a live filling station is no problem, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Priming the system with fresh diesel comes last. After that our engineers start the engine and you set off, whether from a parking bay by Sittingbourne or a drive around Key Street. Our engineers make sure it runs properly on fresh diesel before leaving. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never needs to go to a workshop. Insurers want a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both afterwards.
About Key Street itself
Key Street is a suburban area in Kent, situated near the coast and approximately 36 metres above sea level. Key Street lies within commuting distance of London, about 37.5 miles away, and is close to the nearby city of Southend-on-Sea. Key Street has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are particularly prevalent in the area. Key Street is surrounded by other local places, including Bobbing, Grove Park, and Keycol.
AdBlue drains across Kent, Key Street included
Throughout the ME postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue jobs in Key Street serve much of Kent as well, Bobbing, Grove Park and Keycol included. Phone and ask instead of guessing if you're close to a border, or somewhere awkward to explain.
No moving is needed. In Key Street, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you fits: the car is emptied where it stands, be it in a driveway, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right around Key Street
Each job differs, and so no fixed price is fair. Whether the motor has run, and for how long, comes first in what changes the cost. How much AdBlue got in comes next, and then the location of the car, since an open driveway is easier for our van to reach safely than a tight space behind New House.
That's why each call from Key Street starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it's run. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
You get that price on the phone, before anyone sets off, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As the van is travelling, dig out your insurance: plenty cover misfuelling.
Alongside the car in Key Street, still?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to the car. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and if the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, in Key Street or wherever within Kent.