AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Little Somborne? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, your ignition stays off and so does the engine. Chemically, AdBlue is simply urea in water. Being water-based, it won't burn and won't blend with diesel; damage just comes when your pump starts pulling it. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Little Somborne, is usually all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it is caught before the motor has been run. Before you do anything else, call 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Little Somborne
Do:
- So no one can switch your ignition on, pull your keys out.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Which fluid, and roughly what quantity? Hang on to the bottle or the till receipt, and our technicians will see.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting SO20 6, or the name of the nearest street, gets our van to you without a search.
Things not to do:
- Moving the car even a short way is no reason to fire up your engine.
- Plenty of diesels run their fuel pump the instant the ignition comes on, so keep the vehicle off.
- Do not top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, including a short stretch along Somborne Park Road.
- Beside the road, do not try emptying it on your own.
The staff working at any Little Somborne filling station — the the nearest petrol station included — will usually lend a hand pushing it aside if you ask. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Meant for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in your motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. Not one side fits the other: urea does not belong in an injection pump, and a pump cannot deal with urea.
Inside a diesel tank it acts really differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Furzedown last night, and has not been started since, is still the easy case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has drawn it in.
From there it does two kinds of damage. What is left when the water goes is urea, which turns into crystals: they lodge in tiny passages and clog filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going till it is flushed out. A vehicle left standing in Little Somborne with AdBlue already in its lines is worse by the morning; one with AdBlue only in its tank isn't. The water in it does damage of its own: your high-pressure pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
A problem of thinned fuel is what you get from fuelling a diesel with petrol at the another forecourt nearby. No harm comes while it stays put, blended into your diesel — only when the motor works on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. It doesn't stay mixed, and so it can't be diluted. And crystals and corrosion do not wash out with the next tank of fuel. That is why the flush counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, and why starting the engine "to see" costs more here than almost anywhere else, whether your car is in Stockbridge or the middle of Little Somborne.
The same good news holds as with petrol. Anywhere across Hampshire the car has stopped, an unrun engine leaves the AdBlue yet in the tank: the easiest part of a fuel system to clear.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank in Little Somborne
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of motors waits right next to your diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it takes place with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the drive, not at the forecourt.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Rushing, outside King's Somborne Church of England Primary School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone refills your car. Near Whitehall Road, a driver tips a container in on the drive in the evening. Otherwise, after dark outside the pub in the village, your vehicle is topped up by a driver using that flap the first time.
The least familiar vehicles see it the most — hire cars, new ones, fleet cars, and the spare vehicle of a family with both fuel types. Anywhere in Hampshire, Little Somborne included, the mistake doesn't change, and nor does the first response: keep it off.
Little Somborne: started the motor with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. Through the filter, through the lines, and — given any running — into the injection pump and every injector: that's where it travels.
Watch for rough running, exhaust smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — returning from Winter Down Copse, say, or midway across Little Somborne. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and don't restart the vehicle to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M3, under 10 miles from Little Somborne, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Mileage counts: each mile carries the AdBlue deeper into the system, and so driving for Winchester, under 10 miles away, makes a much bigger job than crossing Little Somborne to the car park by Little Somborne House. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to flush once your engine has been run, and our technicians do all of it where your car has ended up. If it is spotted soon, permanent damage is very unusual.
Little Somborne: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
A street by Rookley Manor, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: wherever the vehicle has come to rest in Little Somborne, we come to it. Three replies shape the work, so first we ask which fluid was put in, about what quantity, and whether your engine has turned over.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out as one when the tank is emptied, right there. A careful flush matters much more with AdBlue than after petrol, since residue won't wash out by itself. Testing the car follows last, once clean diesel is added and your filter gets cleaned or, if needed, replaced. Not run? In that case count on roughly half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no issue, and it is quiet enough for a residential street late at night.
Last, your system is bled with clean diesel. After that our technicians start the engine and you set off, whether from a parking bay by Mottisfont & Dunbridge or a drive in Little Somborne. Before we leave, we confirm it is running properly with fresh diesel in. The entire job is done where the car is, so it never needs to be taken to a workshop. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report later, which is what insurers want.
About Little Somborne, for a moment
Little Somborne is a small hamlet situated on the riverside in Hampshire, with a low elevation of around 45 metres. Little Somborne lies near the city of Winchester, approximately 6.5 miles away, and is surrounded by other nearby places such as Up Somborne and Kings Somborne. Little Somborne has a population of around 526 people and predominantly features detached housing.
AdBlue drains across Little Somborne and Hampshire
The teams that answer AdBlue calls in Little Somborne also cover the places about it, Up Somborne, Ashley and Kings Somborne among them, and most of Hampshire beyond, across the SO postcode area. Assuming doesn't help close to a border or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
A van that comes to you suits Little Somborne, a rural hamlet: there's no need to bring the car to us, since our engineers empty it there, in a driveway, a side street, a car park or a forecourt.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Little Somborne?
Each job differs, and so not one fixed quote would be fair. The cost moves first with how long, if at all, your engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that went in. After that it depends on where the vehicle is and whether a van can get to it safely, which is easier on an open drive than in a tight gap behind St Mary's Church.
With that reason, every enquiry from Little Somborne begins with the same trio — which fluid got in, what quantity, if it ran — before a figure. Given those replies, the range narrows to one firm number.
You hear that price on the phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. As the van is travelling, check your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
Still alongside the car in Little Somborne?
Then, touch nothing — that is the most helpful step there is. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Say it was AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Little Somborne or wherever within Hampshire.