Mead Vale: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
If AdBlue has got into your diesel tank, leave your motor off then leave your ignition off. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when the fuel system draws it in. If your engine hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and thoroughly cleaned where the vehicle stands around Mead Vale. Before you do anything else, ring 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Mead Vale: the first few minutes
Do:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, pull the keys out.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere close.
- Which product, and about how much volume? Save the bottle or the receipt, and we will know.
- Our van finds you quickest with a postcode starting RH1 6, or simply the name of a street close by, and so phone from the car.
Not to do:
- No starting your engine — not for a second, not to reposition the car.
- Turning the key to ignition alone sets the pump going on many diesels. Skip it.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't weaken it.
- Keep the vehicle where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short stretch up Clarence Walk.
- Do not try to drain the vehicle yourself at the roadside.
On a forecourt in Mead Vale, whether it's the Texaco or another one, ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle away from the petrol pump. At your own drive, do not move it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
AdBlue is made for the exhaust, not the motor. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Fuel blends; AdBlue, once poured in, will not. The behaviour is nothing like fuel's. It is heavier than diesel, so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of the tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. The first thing the fuel system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a car that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Woodhatch last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has pulled it in.
From there it does two kinds of harm. As its water goes, the urea left behind crystallises, and the crystals block filters and settle in fine passages. And it's corrosive to some of the metals a fuel system is made from, and so it keeps running on the parts it reaches for as long as it stays there. If the AdBlue has reached the lines, leaving it overnight around Mead Vale leaves things worse. In your tank only, time does nothing. Then there's the water: it offers no protection to the parts that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is commonly worse
Put petrol in a diesel at the BP and you have a problem of thin fuel. Harm just comes from driving on it. Blended into your diesel and left in the tank, it causes nothing.
The issue with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. Because it does not burn, running it through isn't an option. Whether the vehicle is in South Park or the centre of Mead Vale, firing it up "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake, and the flush matters for more. The reasons: it will not remain mixed, and so diluting it fails; and crystals and corrosion survive the following fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. If the motor has not run, the AdBlue is still in the tank, and the tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Surrey your car is sitting.
How does AdBlue end up in a diesel tank around Mead Vale?
It's not deliberate. Many vehicles have the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and muddling them up is easy in poor light. It mostly occurs outside the house, from a bottle bought on the journey home, rather than at the forecourt.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. Rushing, outside St John's Primary School, after a warning light came on during the school run, someone tops up the vehicle. A driver tips the container in at home, just off Somerset Road, as the day ends. Another pattern: darkness, the car park by The Old Oak, and a driver using that flap the first time.
The least known vehicles get it the most — hire cars, brand-new cars, fleet cars, and the other vehicle of a family with one of each fuels. Wherever in Surrey, Mead Vale included, the slip does not change, and nor does the first response: keep it off.
Already started your engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank around Mead Vale?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. The filter and lines have had it pulled along, and some running takes it on to the high-pressure pump and each injector.
Maybe returning from Earlswood Common, or part way across Mead Vale, the motor may go rough, smoke, drop pace, light up your dash or stall. Stop as soon as it is safe, switch off, and do not restart it to check. More of that is pulled through with each start.
Mead Vale sits under 3 miles from the M25; if you were on it, exit at the next junction and pull up somewhere safe instead of carrying on.
Mileage counts: each mile pushes the AdBlue further into your system, and so driving towards Westminster, under 25 miles away, gives a far bigger job than hopping across Mead Vale to the car park by Meadvale Hall. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Wherever your car came to a stop is where all of it gets done, even with more to rinse out after your engine has been run. Caught early, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Mead Vale?
A road beside WWII Air Raid Shelter, a drive, a layby or a forecourt: anywhere the car has stopped around Mead Vale, we travel to it. What got in, about the quantity, plus whether your motor has been run: our engineers ask first, since those decide the job.
The contaminated diesel and the urea come out together after the tank is emptied, right there. What remains from AdBlue won't wash away by itself, so the whole system gets a full flush, which matters much more with urea than for petrol. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. About half an hour on site is typical for most jobs where your motor has not run. Our equipment is explosion-proof, so a live forecourt is no problem, and it's quiet enough for a residential street after dark.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime your system, and that is the final step. Whether it is a parking space by Earlswood (Surrey) or a drive around Mead Vale, that is where our engineers fire it up and you drive off. The test before our engineers head off is that it runs correctly on new diesel. The whole job is done where your car is, so it never needs to go to a garage. You receive a VAT invoice and an engineer report later on, which is what insurers ask for.
About Mead Vale, briefly
Mead Vale is a suburban area in Surrey, situated lakeside with an elevation of around 92 metres. Mead Vale lies approximately 19.5 miles from London and is near the cities of Westminster and other suburban areas like St Johns and Wray Common. Mead Vale has a population of around 4067 people and predominantly consists of semi-detached housing. Mead Vale is surrounded by other local places such as Doversgreen, which contributes to its residential character.
AdBlue drains in Mead Vale and across Surrey
AdBlue jobs around Mead Vale are passed to teams that cover the places near it — St Johns, Doversgreen plus Wray Common — and much of Surrey further out, throughout RH postcodes. Phone and check instead of guessing if you're close to a border, or somewhere tricky to explain.
Anywhere the vehicle sits — a driveway at home, a side street, a parking area, a forecourt — we drain it there, and there's no need to take it to us; that suits Mead Vale, a residential suburb, well.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Mead Vale?
There is no honest single quote, because the jobs aren't the same. Three things shift the price: whether the motor has been running and for how long, how much AdBlue was put in, and where the car is. That last one turns on whether our van can get to it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight spot behind WWII Air raid shelter.
Before any quote, never after, every enquiry from Mead Vale opens with the same three questions: the fuel, the amount, plus if the engine ran. Those answers turn a range into a straight quote.
Before a van heads out, you hear the price by phone. Then payment is on the day, card or by phone, with nothing upfront. As the van is on the way, dig out your policy: plenty cover misfuelling.
Beside the vehicle in Mead Vale, still?
Right now, the most helpful thing to do with your car is to not touch it. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus whether it ran are all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder throughout Surrey, Mead Vale too.