AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Longford? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and no harm starts till your motor sucks it through. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is in Longford, is generally all AdBlue in a diesel tank takes — if it's caught before your engine has been run. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do straight away, Longford: AdBlue in the diesel tank
Do:
- Take the keys out, so no one switches your ignition on.
- If you are anywhere near moving traffic, put your hazards on.
- So you can tell us which fluid it was and roughly how much, save your receipt or the empty bottle.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting TN13 2, or the name of the nearest street, brings our van to you without a search.
Not to do:
- Do not start the motor, even for a moment to shift your car.
- Many diesels power their fuel pump the instant your ignition goes on, and so keep the car off.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more fuel will not thin it.
- Any driving at all is best avoided, even a short way down Crescent Cottages.
- No draining it yourself, either, at the roadside.
Get the people behind the counter to help you roll the car off the island if you are at a forecourt in Longford, whether it's the Tesco or elsewhere. At your own driveway, do not touch it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
Not the engine but your exhaust is where AdBlue belongs. From a separate tank it goes straight to the exhaust, treating what your motor emits. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is built to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It sinks, because it is denser than diesel, and settles down where the intake draws its supply from. A motor filled on a driveway in St Johns overnight and left unstarted is the simple one. No pump has pulled the AdBlue up yet — though when the motor turns, that is what goes first, straight from the bottom of that tank.
Once it's sucked in, the damage comes in two forms. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it is corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps working on the components it gets to for as long as it remains there. Where the AdBlue is in the pipework, waiting overnight in Longford makes things worse. In that tank only, time costs nothing. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector need diesel flowing past them, so the water part damages them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's regularly worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on Sainsbury's's forecourt makes your fuel watery — that is the whole fault. No damage comes as long as it sits put, blended into your diesel — only when your motor runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another matter: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. It cannot just be run through, since it doesn't burn. Deposits and corrosion remain through the next tankful, and AdBlue separates again from the diesel, so thinning it won't help. That is why the flush matters so much, and trying your engine "to see" does more harm here than nearly any other mistake — in Bessels Green or the heart of Longford alike.
As with petrol, there's good news. Anywhere in Kent your vehicle has come to rest, an unrun motor leaves the AdBlue yet inside the reservoir: the simplest part of any fuel system to clear.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Longford?
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of motors waits right next to the diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. It usually happens outside the house, from a bottle grabbed on the journey home, not at the filling station.
The ways it happens are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up occurs in a hurry outside Dunton Green Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off London Road. Another version: dim light, a pub car park by The Miners Arms, and someone using that flap for the first time.
The least known cars get it most — hire cars, new ones, company cars, and the other motor in a home with one of each fuels. Wherever you are around Longford or the rest of Kent, it's the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
Longford: started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. The filter and lines have had it pulled through, and any running carries it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Lumpy running, smoke from the exhaust, lost power, dashboard lights or cutting out: each may appear, perhaps part way across Longford or returning from Pounsley Wood. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. With each start, more of it is pulled through.
If you were on the M26, under a mile from Longford, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere sensible rather than pressing on.
How far it went counts. A couple of hundred yards across Longford to the car park by Donnington Hall is a very different job from a run towards London, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with every mile. Approximately how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever your car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to clean out after the engine has been started. Very seldom does it leave long-term damage when it's caught soon.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Longford?
A road beside Dunton Green Village Hall, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: wherever your car has stopped around Longford, our engineers come to it. Three answers shape the work, and so before anything else we ask what was put in, roughly the amount, plus if your motor has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea leave together when your tank is drained, on the spot. The fuel system is flushed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, because what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and the car is tested. If the motor has not run, the majority of jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. Low-noise enough for use outside a house at night, and fine on a busy forecourt, the pumps are explosion-proof.
The last step is to bleed your system on fresh diesel. Starting the engine comes next, and then you head off from where your car is parked, by Dunton Green or on a driveway in Longford. Before we leave, our technicians check it's running properly with fresh diesel in. The whole job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a workshop. At the end, there is paperwork for the insurer: a VAT invoice and a written report from the engineer.
About Longford itself
Longford is a suburban area in Kent, situated lakeside with an elevation of 79 metres, and is located near several other communities including Riverhead and Dunton Green. Longford is characterized by its predominant housing type, which is flat, and is home to a population of approximately 3800 residents. Longford sits within the wider South East region, close to the nearby city of London, which is about 19 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Longford and Kent
Riverhead, Dunton Green and Chipstead are among the towns around Longford that the same teams reach, along with much of Kent beyond, over the TN postcode area. If you are close to a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask instead of assuming.
No towing is needed. In Longford, a residential suburb, a mobile service fits: your vehicle is emptied on the spot, whether on a drive, a side street, a car park or a filling station.
Longford: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
There's no honest single quote, because the jobs aren't the same. Three things move the price: whether your engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the vehicle is. That last one rests on whether a van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight space behind Riverhead Library.
What was put in, what quantity, plus whether the engine ran: every Longford call begins by asking exactly that, ahead of a figure, never after. The replies turn a range into a straight price.
Before a van heads out, you are told our quote on the phone. And payment is on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. While our engineer is travelling, dig out your insurance: many include misfuelling.
In Longford and still beside the vehicle?
Then, the best thing to do with the vehicle is to leave it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Phone 0333 366 0103 and tell us it's AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether it has run. Petrol in Diesel takes it from there, around Longford or anywhere around Kent.