Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Leatherhead Common
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does the motor. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. The trouble begins once it's pulled through the lines — it will not ignite, and it will not blend with diesel. If your engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is usually drained and carefully cleaned where the vehicle sits in Leatherhead Common. Before you do anything else, phone 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Leatherhead Common
Do these:
- So no one can switch your ignition on, pull the keys out.
- Near moving traffic? Then put your hazards on.
- So you can give us which fluid it was and roughly how much, keep the receipt or the empty bottle.
- Tell us a postcode starting KT22 7, or whichever street is closest, and our van finds you directly — so call from wherever you stand.
Not to do:
- Do not start your motor, even for a moment to shift the car.
- The ignition remains off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start the fuel pump.
- Adding more diesel does not help: AdBlue separates out rather than thinning.
- Even a short stretch along Ryebrook Road is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the kerbside.
The attendants working at any Leatherhead Common filling station — the Tesco included — will normally lend a hand rolling it clear if you ask. If you are on your own drive, leave the car precisely where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine is not what AdBlue is made for; the exhaust is. From a dedicated tank it goes straight to your exhaust, treating what your engine emits. Not one side fits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
It does not combine. Once it's poured into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. It drops, since it's denser than diesel, and pools down where the pickup draws its fuel from. The first thing your fuel system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a vehicle that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Leatherhead last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. It attacks some metals used in fuel systems, attacking whatever it touches until it's removed completely. And once the water evaporates, the urea turns into crystals that clog filters and settle in narrow channels. Lines carrying AdBlue spell damage by morning for a vehicle sitting in Leatherhead Common. Only in that tank, it stays the same. Then there's the water: it brings no lubrication to the parts that need it the most — the injection pump and every injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is commonly more major than petrol
Top up a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the Esso, and the problem is diluted fuel. Mixed through your diesel and left still, it's harmless for now; using your engine does the damage.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Deposits and corrosion stay through the following tankful, and AdBlue splits again from your diesel, and so watering it won't work. That is why the flush counts so much, and trying your engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other mistake — in Fetcham Grove or the heart of Leatherhead Common alike.
As with petrol, there is good news. If the motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and the tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever in Surrey your car is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Leatherhead Common
Many vehicles put the AdBlue filler alongside the diesel one, occasionally behind a single flap, and in dim light the two can appear the same. Nobody means it. A bottle bought when driving home and poured in at home, rather than at the filling station, is the usual route.
Usually, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Leatherhead Trinity School and Nursery. In the evening, a bottle goes in on a driveway close to Woodbridge Avenue. One more pattern: darkness, a pub car park outside The Plough, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
The least known vehicles see it most — hire cars, new ones, fleet cars, and the other car of a home with both fuels. Same mistake, same first step — leave it switched off — anywhere you are in Leatherhead Common or the remainder of Surrey.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Leatherhead Common?
If so, the AdBlue is no longer in the tank. It's been pulled through the fuel filter and the lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has got to your high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Lumpy running, smoke, dropping power, dashboard lights or stalling: each might show up, maybe part way across Leatherhead Common or coming back from Kingston Road Recreation Ground. When you safely can, stop then turn it off — without turning it on again to test. More of it is pulled through with each start.
On the M25, under a mile from Leatherhead Common, the first junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to stop — not carrying on.
Every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into the system. That's why a hop across Leatherhead Common to park beside Fire and Iron Gallery and a drive of under 25 miles towards Westminster are very distinct jobs. Tell us about how far it had come.
We do all of the cleaning where the car has ended up, and once the engine has run there is more of it. Lasting damage is very unusual when it is caught quickly.
Clearing AdBlue in a diesel in Leatherhead Common: what it takes
The vehicle stays put, whether that is a street beside The King's Croft Chapel, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt around Leatherhead Common, and the van comes to it. Three replies decide the work, and so first our engineers ask which fluid was put in, roughly what quantity, and if your motor has run.
On the spot, your tank is then emptied, and all of the contaminated diesel and the urea leave at once. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush matters: the fuel system is cleaned all the way through because what remains will not wash out by itself. Testing your vehicle comes at the end, once clean diesel is added and the filter is cleaned or, if necessary, swapped. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once we arrive, provided the engine has not run. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a working forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Clean diesel goes in to bleed the system, and that is the last step. Then our technicians fire it up and you drive off, whether from a parking bay at Leatherhead or a drive in Leatherhead Common. It's checked on fresh diesel to confirm it runs correctly before our technicians head off. Since the job is done in full where the car is, a garage never comes into it. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers want.
About Leatherhead Common
Leatherhead Common is a suburban area in Surrey, situated near the River Mole and close to the North Downs. Leatherhead Common has a relatively low elevation of around 40 metres, and its riverside setting provides a distinctive character. Leatherhead Common is located near several other suburban areas, including Pachesham Park and Ashtead Common, and is home to a population of approximately 2413 people, predominantly residing in flats.
AdBlue drains across Surrey, Leatherhead Common included
Our vans that answer AdBlue jobs around Leatherhead Common also cover the locations about it, Pachesham Park, Ashtead Common and Lower Ashtead among them, and most of Surrey beyond, across the KT postcode area. Phone and check rather than guess when you're close to a border, or somewhere awkward to explain.
Leatherhead Common is a residential suburb, and a call-out drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it is, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
Leatherhead Common: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no honest single price, because the jobs aren't the same. What shifts the price is, firstly, whether the motor has been running and for how long; then how much AdBlue got in; and then where the car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight space behind All Saints Church.
That's why each call from Leatherhead Common starts with the same three queries, asked before giving a figure, not after: what was put in, how much, and whether it's run. Once they are known, a range turns into one fixed figure.
Quoted on the call before the engineer heads out, it is paid for on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Leatherhead Common: still next to the vehicle?
Leaving your vehicle alone is, right now, the most useful move you can do. Keys out; motor and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus whether it ran is all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest across Surrey, Leatherhead Common included.