Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Locksbottom
Engine off, ignition off: that's where you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and nothing starts till the motor sucks it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the vehicle is in Locksbottom, is usually what AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before the engine has run. Before anything, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
Locksbottom, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Do:
- Take the keys out, and so no one switches the ignition on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are at all near moving traffic.
- Which product, and roughly how much quantity? Save the bottle or the receipt, and our technicians will see.
- Our van locates you fastest with a postcode starting BR6 8, or simply the name of a street nearby, and so phone from the spot.
Things not to do:
- Shifting the car even a short way is no reason to fire up your motor.
- Turning the key to ignition alone starts the pump running on plenty of diesels. Avoid it.
- Pouring in extra diesel doesn't help: AdBlue settles out rather than thinning.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short distance up Crofton Road.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself at the kerbside.
On a forecourt in Locksbottom, whether it's the BP or another one, ask the attendants to help you push the vehicle away from the petrol pump. If you're on your own drive, leave the car just where it stands.
AdBlue in a diesel tank: what it does
Not your motor but the exhaust is where AdBlue is meant to go. Stored in a separate tank, it is injected into the exhaust to treat the gases. Nothing in it is supposed to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
It doesn't blend. After it's tipped into the tank, AdBlue acts not at all like fuel. Heavier than diesel, it drops and collects underneath it — the very place the intake draws from. Once your system runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Before then it sits underneath the diesel, which is why a vehicle filled in Bromley Common last night and never switched on stays the simple case, as long as no one touches the key.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. Crystals and corrosion. As the water dries, it strands urea that crystallises in filters and tiny passages; meanwhile, because it eats at certain metals, each part it reaches keeps suffering for as long as it remains in there. Pipes carrying AdBlue mean harm overnight for a vehicle sitting in Locksbottom. Only inside your tank, it stays the same. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and every injector depend on diesel flowing through them, and so the water part harms them in its own right.
Why is AdBlue in a diesel commonly the bigger issue?
An issue of thin fuel is what you end up with after fuelling a diesel with petrol from the Shell. Damage only comes from driving on it. Mixed into your diesel and sitting in the tank, it does nothing.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable liquid. Not burning, it can't simply be run through. Whether your car sits in Keston or the centre of Locksbottom, firing it up "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other mistake, and the flush matters for more. Why: it won't stay blended, and so watering it down is impossible; and deposits and corrosion outlast the following tankful.
As with petrol, there's good news. Wherever around Greater London the vehicle has come to rest, an unrun engine means the AdBlue still inside the reservoir: the simplest part of any fuel system to clear.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Locksbottom: how it ends up there
Many cars place the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel cap, occasionally under one flap, and after dark the two may look the same. Nobody means it. Mostly it happens 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. The refill is rushed outside Darrick Wood Junior School, because your dash lit up with a warning while the children were taken off. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Starts Hill Road. Else, after dark by Black Horse, your car gets refilled by a driver opening that flap the first time.
It takes place most in the cars drivers know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second car of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Same slip, same first response — leave it off — anywhere you are around Locksbottom or the rest of Greater London.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Locksbottom?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. It has been drawn through the fuel filter and your lines, and if the motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors.
Perhaps coming back from Broadstreet Green, or part way across Locksbottom, your engine may go rough, smoke, drop power, flash the dash or cut out. Pull over when it is safe. Turn off. Leave it off rather than testing it again. More of that is pulled through with each start.
On the M25, under 5 miles from Locksbottom, the next junction is where to leave, and somewhere sensible is where to park — not driving on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Locksbottom to the car park by Locksbottom Cricket Club is a very different job from a run towards London, under 15 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Roughly how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever the vehicle came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after your engine has been running. Long-term damage is very rare if it is caught quickly.
Draining AdBlue in a diesel around Locksbottom: what it takes
Anywhere it has come to rest around Locksbottom — a forecourt, a lay-by, a driveway, a street by Education Centre Library — the van travels to the car. Before anything else we ask what went in, about how much, and if the engine has been run, since those replies settle this work.
The contaminated diesel and the urea leave as one after that tank is drained, on the spot. A careful flush counts much more with AdBlue than after petrol, since what remains won't wash away on its own. Clean diesel goes in once the fuel filter is flushed — or replaced, if it needs to be — and then your car is tested. Most of these jobs are a half-hour job once our technicians turn up, provided your engine has not run. Low-noise enough to use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
Lastly, the fuel system is primed with fresh diesel. At that point our engineers start the engine and you set off, whether from a parking bay outside Orpington or a driveway in Locksbottom. It is tested on fresh diesel to be sure it runs properly before we leave. Our technicians do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never needs to be taken to a garage. The insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over once the job is done.
About Locksbottom itself
Locksbottom is a suburban area in southeastern Greater London, situated near the River Ravensbourne at an elevation of around 98 metres. Locksbottom lies approximately 12 miles from central London and is surrounded by other suburban areas such as Keston Mark, Farnborough, and Crofton. Locksbottom has a population of around 3334 people and is characterised by predominantly detached housing.
AdBlue drains around Locksbottom and across Greater London
The teams that answer AdBlue calls in Locksbottom also cover the spots about it, Keston Mark, Farnborough and Crofton among them, and most of Greater London beyond, across the BR postcode area. Guessing doesn't help by a county line or anywhere tricky to describe; ring and check.
Locksbottom is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether your car is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our technicians drain it where it sits, and so it never needs to be moved to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Locksbottom: the cost of fixing it
There is no fair single quote, since the jobs are not the same. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where your car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is simpler on an open drive than in a tight gap behind St Michael & All Angels.
For that reason, each call from Locksbottom opens by asking the same trio — what went in, what quantity, whether the engine ran — before a figure. Their answers shrink the range down to a single number.
You get that price by phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of plenty of insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Next to your car around Locksbottom, still?
Not touching your car is, then, the best move you can do. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Call 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, plus if it ran are everything our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder across Greater London, Locksbottom too.