Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in North Mundham
AdBlue in your diesel tank? Then leave your motor off — and your ignition as well. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. It does not burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the harm it does starts when your fuel system draws it in. In North Mundham, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before your motor runs normally means a drain and a thorough flush, right where the car is. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
North Mundham, AdBlue in the diesel tank: what to do right away
Do:
- Keys out — then no one can switch anything on.
- Put your hazards on if you are at all near moving traffic.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Call us from where you are. A postcode starting PO20 1, or the name of the closest street, brings the van to you without a search.
Do not do these:
- Moving your car even a few yards is no reason to start your engine.
- The ignition stays off: on many diesels, switching it on is enough to run your fuel pump.
- AdBlue does not mix in diesel — it separates out — so adding more diesel won't weaken it.
- Keep the car where it is instead of driving it anywhere, even a short way up B2166.
- Beside the road, don't try emptying it yourself.
Rolling the car away from the island is a job for attendants to help with, wherever North Mundham forecourt you are on, the Esso or any other. If you are on your own drive, leave the vehicle just where it stands.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The motor is not what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. It goes into its own tank and is sprayed into your exhaust gas to fresh it. A fuel pump is not designed to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to travel through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after tipped in, won't. Its behaviour is not at all like diesel's. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A vehicle filled on a driveway in Fisher yesterday evening and left unstarted counts as the straightforward case. Nothing has pulled the AdBlue up so far — but once the engine turns, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of the tank.
After it's pulled in, the damage comes in two forms. What remains once the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they settle in narrow passages and block filters. On top of that, it attacks some metals in a fuel system, and keeps going till it is flushed out. Where the AdBlue has reached the pipework, waiting till morning around North Mundham leaves it worse. In that tank alone, time does nothing. Diesel lubricates the injection pump and each injector as it flows; water offers no lubrication, and that is a separate form of damage.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is regularly worse than petrol
Put petrol in a diesel at the Sainsbury's and you have a fault of thin fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is in the tank it does no damage; the harm comes from running the engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is an issue of the wrong substance altogether. It doesn't burn, so it cannot just be run through. Whether the vehicle sits in Whyke or the heart of North Mundham, turning it over "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other slip, and the flush matters more. Why: it won't remain mixed, and so watering it down fails; and deposits and corrosion survive the next fill.
With AdBlue, the good news is no separate from petrol. If your motor hasn't run, the AdBlue is still inside the tank, and that tank is the simplest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever around West Sussex your car is sitting.
North Mundham: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It's not deliberate. Many vehicles keep the AdBlue inlet beside the diesel one, now and then behind a single flap, and mixing them up is simple after dark. Usually it is never the forecourt: a driver picks up a container heading home and pours it in outside the house.
The ways it occurs are few and familiar. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside North Mundham Primary School. Close to Stoney Meadow, someone pours a container in at home in the evening. Otherwise, after dark by Walnut Tree, your vehicle gets refilled by a driver opening that flap for the first time.
It happens most in the motors people know least: a hire car, a new car, a company car, or the second vehicle of a household with one diesel and one petrol. Wherever you are in North Mundham or the remainder of West Sussex, it is the same mistake and the same first answer: leave the vehicle off.
North Mundham: started the motor with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
The AdBlue has left that tank, then. Via the fuel filter, along the pipework, and — given any running time — into the injection pump and every injector: that is where it travels.
Expect rough running, smoke, falling power, lights on your dash, or a stall — returning from North Mundham Recreation Ground, say, or part way across North Mundham. No restarting to check: pull over when it is safe, then turn everything off. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the Waterlooville Bypass, under 15 miles from North Mundham, come off at the next junction and stop somewhere sensible instead of pressing on.
Distance counts: every mile pushes the AdBlue deeper into the system, so heading for Chichester, under 3 miles away, makes a much bigger job than hopping across North Mundham to the car park by North Mundham Village Centre. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Wherever the car came to a halt is where all of it gets done, even with more to flush after the engine has been run. Spotted soon, it very rarely leaves permanent damage.
North Mundham: how AdBlue is emptied from a diesel
Wherever it has stopped in North Mundham — a filling station, a lay-by, a drive, a street beside St. Stephen's — the van travels to the vehicle. Three answers shape the work, so before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, roughly the amount, and if your motor has turned over.
Next, emptying the tank on the spot takes out the polluted diesel and the AdBlue together. With AdBlue, more so than with petrol, the flush counts: the fuel system is flushed all the way through because what remains won't wash out unaided. After that, the filter: cleaned, or changed when it has to be. Then clean diesel, then a check of your vehicle. If your engine has not run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. The pumps are explosion-proof, fine on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Lastly, the fuel system is primed with fresh diesel. Whether it is a parking bay outside Chichester or a driveway in North Mundham, that is where our technicians fire it up and you drive off. Before we leave, we check it is running correctly with fresh diesel in. No workshop is required at any point, with the whole job done then and there. Insurers ask for a VAT invoice and an engineer report, and you get both at the end.
About North Mundham and where it is
North Mundham is a village in West Sussex, situated near the coast and close to the city of Chichester. North Mundham lies at a low elevation of around 6 metres, and its population of approximately 1196 people live in predominantly detached housing. North Mundham is surrounded by nearby places such as Runcton, Hunston, and Woldhurst, and is within a short distance of the South Downs National Park. North Mundham benefits from its proximity to Chichester, which provides access to a range of amenities and services.
AdBlue drains in North Mundham and across West Sussex
AdBlue jobs in North Mundham are passed to teams that cover the towns near it — Runcton, Hunston plus Woldhurst — and much of West Sussex beyond, throughout PO postcodes. Ring and ask rather than guess if you are close to a border, or somewhere awkward to explain.
A mobile service suits North Mundham, a coastal village: you have no need to bring the vehicle to us, because our engineers drain it on the spot, in a driveway, a side street, a parking area or a filling station.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in North Mundham
Since the callouts differ, a flat figure wouldn't be fair. The price moves first with how long, if at all, the motor has been running, and next with the amount of AdBlue that was put in. After that it depends on where the car is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is simpler on an open driveway than in a tight space behind Runcton Manor..
For that in mind, each enquiry from North Mundham begins by asking the same trio — which fluid went in, what quantity, whether it ran — before any figure. Given those replies, the range narrows to one fixed figure.
Before a van heads out, you hear the quote by phone. Then you pay on the day, card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Look at your insurance while we are on the way: many include misfuelling cover.
Next to your car around North Mundham, right now?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, right now, the best move you can do. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, the amount, and whether it ran are everything our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest across West Sussex, North Mundham included.