Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Millbank
If AdBlue has gone into your diesel tank, keep the motor off then leave your ignition off. Urea dissolved in water is all AdBlue is. Not like fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and nothing starts till the engine sucks it through. In Millbank, AdBlue in a diesel tank caught before the engine runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, just where your car is. Call 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
What to do straight away, Millbank: AdBlue in your diesel tank
Things to do:
- So no one can switch the ignition on, pull your keys out.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Which product, and roughly what amount? Save the bottle or the till receipt, and we will see.
- Our van locates you fastest with a postcode starting SW1P 4, or just the name of a street close by, and so phone from the car.
Not to do:
- Moving your vehicle even a short way is no reason to start your motor.
- Don't switch your ignition on. On many diesels that alone runs the fuel pump.
- AdBlue doesn't mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding extra fuel won't weaken it.
- Even a short way up Herrick Street is too far to drive the vehicle.
- By the road, don't try draining it yourself.
On a forecourt in Millbank, whether it is the JET or another one, ask the staff to help you roll the vehicle clear of the pump. On your own drive, don't touch it at all.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. Its own reservoir keeps it, and from there it is fed into your exhaust, and there it cleans the fumes. A fuel pump is not made to take it, and AdBlue was never supposed to go through one.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. Once the pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to go through. Before then it sits beneath the diesel, which is why a vehicle filled in Lambeth yesterday and not started remains the straightforward one, provided nobody turns the key.
After it's pulled 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, so it keeps labouring on the parts it gets to for as long as it remains there. Overnight, a car parked in Millbank with AdBlue in its lines grows worse; where it is only inside your tank, nothing changes. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it passes; water offers none of that, and that is a second form of harm.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more significant than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on BP's forecourt leaves the fuel watery — that is the whole fault. Mixed into the diesel and left still, it is no threat at that stage; using your motor does the damage.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally unsuitable substance. It cannot just be run through, since it does not burn. Whether the vehicle is in Westminster or the heart of Millbank, turning it over "to see" does more harm in this case than almost any other slip, and the flush counts for more. Why: it won't remain mixed, so watering it down fails; and deposits and corrosion outlast the following tankful.
As with petrol, there is good news. If your engine has not run, the AdBlue is still in your tank, and your tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around Greater London your car is sitting.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Millbank
It's not on purpose. Plenty of cars keep the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and muddling them up is simple in poor light. It usually happens at home, from a bottle bought on the journey home, not at the filling station.
A few familiar ways cover most cases. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Millbank Gardens Primary Academy. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off Erasmus Street. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park outside The White Swan, in poor light, by somebody who has never opened that flap before.
The least known vehicles get it the most — rentals, new cars, company cars, and the spare car in a home with both fuels. Leave it switched off: that is the first step to an identical slip, wherever in Millbank or the rest of Greater London you happen to be.
Already started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Millbank?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. The fuel filter and lines have had it pulled through, and some running time takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Watch for lumpy running, smoke, falling power, lights on your dash, or a cut-out — returning from Millbank Gardens, perhaps, or part way across Millbank. Pull over when it is safe. Switch off. Keep the vehicle off rather than testing it again. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M4, under 10 miles from Millbank, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
How far it went matters. A couple of hundred yards across Millbank to the car park by John Everett Millais is a very different job from a run towards Westminster, under a mile away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with each mile. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
Once your engine has been started, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where your car has come to a stop. Caught early, it very seldom leaves lasting damage.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve in Millbank?
Wherever it has stopped in Millbank — a filling station, a lay-by, a driveway, a street by Stuart Hall Library — the van comes to your vehicle. Three replies decide the work, and so before anything else we ask what went in, about the amount, plus if the engine has turned over.
Then that tank is emptied where your car sits, so the polluted fuel and the AdBlue come out together. What remains from AdBlue won't flush away unaided, so the whole system gets a careful flush, which matters much more here than with petrol. The filter is cleaned, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and your car is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is typical for most jobs when the motor has not run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a live forecourt sensible to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
Fresh diesel goes in to prime your system, and that is the final step. You set off as soon as our engineers have fired it up, and it makes no difference whether the vehicle is on a driveway in Millbank or in a bay at Vauxhall. The check before our engineers go is that it runs properly on clean diesel. The entire job is done where the vehicle is, so it never has to be taken to a workshop. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About Millbank itself
Millbank is a suburban area in central London, situated on the north bank of the River Thames. Millbank sits at a low elevation of around 10 metres, close to the heart of the city and within walking distance of Westminster. Millbank is characterized by its predominantly flat-type housing and is surrounded by other notable areas such as Victoria, Vauxhall, and Pimlico. Millbank is home to a sizable population of approximately 20,243 residents.
AdBlue drains across Greater London, Millbank included
Over the SW1P postcode area, the vans taking AdBlue jobs in Millbank reach most of Greater London too, Victoria, Vauxhall and Pimlico included. Near a border, or somewhere tricky to explain? Asking beats guessing, so phone.
Millbank 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, we drain it where it is, so it never needs to be moved to us.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out around Millbank?
Because the jobs differ, a flat figure wouldn't be honest. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what shifts the cost. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the location of your car, because an open drive is simpler for our van to reach safely than a tight gap behind Tate Britain.
Before a quote, not after, each enquiry from Millbank opens with three checks: the liquid, the quantity, plus whether the engine ran. When they are answered, a range becomes one firm number.
The price is quoted on the call, before a van leaves; settling up comes on the day, by card or by phone, and nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van arrives.
In Millbank and still next to the car?
Then the most handy thing you can do is nothing to your car. Keys out, motor off, ignition off. Ring 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, plus if it ran is all our engineers ask. Petrol in Diesel handles the remainder throughout Greater London, Millbank included.