AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Kit Hill? Don't Start It
AdBlue in the diesel tank? Then keep the motor off — and your ignition too. Water with urea dissolved in it: that is AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does begins when the fuel system draws it in. If your motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally emptied and carefully flushed where the vehicle stands in Kit Hill. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank in Kit Hill
Do these:
- Take the keys out, and so nobody switches the ignition on.
- If you are at all near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- Which product, and roughly how much volume? Save the bottle or the receipt, and our engineers can see.
- The van finds you quickest with a postcode starting SP7 0, or simply the name of a street close by, and so phone from the car.
Things not to do:
- Not even briefly, and not to roll your vehicle: the engine stays off.
- Many diesels run their fuel pump the moment the ignition comes on, and so leave the car off.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short distance up B3091 is too far to drive it.
- Do not try to drain it yourself at the roadside.
Get the attendants to help you move the car away from the pumps if you're on a forecourt in Kit Hill, whether it's the Murco or somewhere else. At your own drive, don't move it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to clean it. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once tipped in, will not. Its behaviour is nothing like diesel's. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup sucks fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Twyford last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of your tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
Once it's pulled in, the harm takes two forms. It eats at some metals found in fuel systems, working on any part it reaches till it's cleared from the system. And when the water goes, the urea turns into crystals that block filters and lodge in tiny channels. Overnight, a car parked around Kit Hill with AdBlue through its pipework gets worse; if it's just inside your tank, nothing changes. Water protects nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector need diesel flowing past them, and so the water part damages them by itself.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more significant than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error at the Tesco, and the problem is thinned fuel. It mixes with the diesel, and while it's in the tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running the motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid as such is plainly the wrong one. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it cannot be thinned. And crystals and corrosion don't wash out with the next tank of fuel. That's why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the motor "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether the vehicle is in Margaret Marsh or the middle of Kit Hill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no different from petrol. If the motor has not run, the AdBlue is still in the tank, and that tank is the quickest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Dorset the vehicle is sitting.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Kit Hill: how it ends up there
It's not on purpose. Many cars have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, now and then behind one flap, and mixing them up is simple after dark. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
Usually, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. Hurrying, outside The Abbey CofE VA Primary School, Shaftesbury, after a warning lamp came on during the school run, someone refills the car. Someone pours the bottle in at home, right off Denham Drive, as the day ends. Or a driver new to that flap tops up your vehicle after dark, stopped in the car park by the pub in the village.
Rented vehicles, new motors, fleet motors, or the spare car in a family with both fuels: the least familiar cars get it most. Wherever you're around Kit Hill or the rest of Dorset, it's the same error and the same first answer: leave the car off.
Kit Hill: started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Via your filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — into the high-pressure pump and each injector: that is how far it travels.
Perhaps coming back from Guys Marsh Sports Field, or part way across Kit Hill, the engine might run rough, smoke, drop power, light up the dash or cut out. No starting it again to test: stop once safe, then turn it off. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
Kit Hill sits under 50 miles from the M27; if you were on it, exit by the next junction and pull up somewhere safe rather than carrying on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue deeper in. That's why crossing Kit Hill to park beside St Thomas and a drive of under 25 miles for Salisbury are very distinct jobs. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Our engineers do all of the flushing where your car has ended up, and once your engine has been run there is more of it. Lasting damage is very unusual when it's spotted early.
What draining AdBlue from a diesel involves around Kit Hill
Our engineers come to your car, wherever it has stopped in Kit Hill: a side street near St Margaret, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Three replies decide the job, so first our engineers ask which fluid got in, about what quantity, plus if the motor has turned over.
On the spot, the tank is then emptied, and both the polluted diesel and the urea leave at once. The fuel system is purged thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. Roughly half an hour on site is usual for most jobs where the engine hasn't run. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, and so a busy forecourt is no issue, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
The last step is to prime your system on clean diesel. Whether it's a parking space outside Gillingham (Dorset) or a drive around Kit Hill, that is where our technicians fire it up and you set off. Our technicians make sure it runs properly on new diesel before we go. The entire job is done where your car is, so it never has to go to a garage. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and both come at the end.
About Kit Hill itself
Kit Hill is a small hamlet in Dorset, situated inland at an elevation of around 95 metres. Kit Hill lies near the villages of Guys Marsh and Hartgrove, and is within commuting distance of Salisbury. Kit Hill has a population of approximately 520 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Kit Hill is also relatively close to Woodbridge, another nearby settlement.
AdBlue drains across Dorset, Kit Hill included
AdBlue call-outs around Kit Hill go to teams that cover the towns near it — Guys Marsh, Hartgrove plus Woodbridge — and much of Dorset beyond, throughout SP postcodes. Guessing doesn't help by a border or anywhere tricky to describe; phone and check.
Kit Hill is a rural hamlet, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Kit Hill?
Because the callouts vary, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. The cost 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 your car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Stour Row Village Hall.
With that in mind, every call from Kit Hill begins with the identical trio — what was put in, what quantity, if the engine ran — ahead of any quote. Once they are known, a range becomes one firm figure.
Priced by phone before the van sets out, it is settled that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. While the van is on the way, dig out your policy: plenty cover misfuelling.
Still next to the car in Kit Hill?
Then, the best thing to do with your vehicle is to leave it. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103 then tell us it is AdBlue, about how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Kit Hill or anywhere across Dorset.