Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Northfleet
Motor off, ignition off: that's how you start if AdBlue has gone into the diesel tank. In plain terms, AdBlue is just urea in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor mixes, and no harm happens till your motor sucks it through. If the motor hasn't run yet, AdBlue in a diesel tank is generally drained and thoroughly purged where the car stands in Northfleet. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in your diesel tank around Northfleet
Things to do:
- Take your keys out, and so no one switches the ignition on.
- Put the hazard lights on if you are at all near moving traffic.
- The empty bottle or the receipt tells us the fluid and the quantity, so do not bin it out.
- Ring right where you are. Say a DA11 9 postcode or the nearest street name, and nobody has to hunt for you.
Not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the car: the motor stays off.
- Your ignition stays off: on many diesels, turning it on is enough to start your fuel pump.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue does not mix in diesel; it separates out.
- Even a short stretch up Rosherville Way is too far to drive the vehicle.
- Don't try to drain it yourself by the roadside.
The attendants on duty at any Northfleet filling station — the Texaco among them — will normally lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. At your own driveway, don't move it at all.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the engine. Kept in a separate tank, it is squirted into the exhaust to treat the gases. Nothing in an injection pump is designed for this fluid — and no part of that was intended to go that way.
Inside a diesel tank it acts very differently from fuel. It doesn't mix in. It's heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and collects at the bottom of your tank, which is where the pickup pulls fuel from. A car topped up on a drive in New House yesterday evening and left unstarted is the simple one. Nothing has sucked the AdBlue up so far — though when your motor turns, that's what goes first, directly from the bottom of your tank.
Two kinds of damage come from there. It eats at some metals used in fuel components, working on whatever it touches until it is cleared completely. And when the water goes, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in tiny channels. Overnight, a car parked around Northfleet with AdBlue in its lines gets worse; if it is just inside your tank, it doesn't. Diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump and each injector as it flows; water gives no lubrication, which is a second form of damage.
Petrol or AdBlue in a diesel: why AdBlue is frequently worse
Petrol pumped into a diesel on Asda's forecourt leaves your fuel thin — that is the main problem. It mixes with the diesel, and while it's inside the tank it does no damage; the damage comes from running your engine on it.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a completely unsuitable substance. Not burning, it cannot just be run through. Nor can it be thinned, because it splits again — and the next tankful will not rinse away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters for more here, and trying your engine "to see", in the heart of Northfleet or out in Pepper Hill, does more harm than almost any other error.
As with petrol, there is good news. Clearing a tank is the easiest part on a fuel system, and without running, the AdBlue stays in there — anywhere across Kent the car sits.
How AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank around Northfleet
Many cars place the AdBlue cap beside the diesel one, now and then under a single flap, and after dark the two may look identical. Nobody means it. It mostly occurs outside the house, from a bottle grabbed en route home, rather than at the forecourt.
Usually, it happens in one of a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside St Botolph's Church of England Primary School. Close to Mariners Way, someone pours a bottle in on the drive in the evening. Else, after dark by The Red Lion, your vehicle gets topped up by a driver using that flap for the first time.
Rented cars, brand-new cars, company vehicles, or the second car in a home with both fuels: the least known vehicles get it most. Wherever in Kent, Northfleet as well, the slip doesn't change, and neither does the first response: leave it off.
AdBlue in your diesel tank in Northfleet, and the motor started?
The AdBlue has left your tank, then. It's been pulled through your filter and your lines, and if your engine ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure pump and the injectors.
Expect rough running, smoke, falling power, warnings on your dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Northfleet Urban Country Park, say, or midway across Northfleet. 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.
If you were on the M2, under 5 miles from Northfleet, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Northfleet to the car park by Gravesend & District Theatre Guild is a very different job from a run towards Southend-on-Sea, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into your system with each mile. Tell us roughly how far it had come.
Our engineers do all of the rinsing where the car has come to a stop, and once your engine has been started there is more of it. When it is caught early, long-term damage is very unusual.
What does an AdBlue drain on a diesel involve around Northfleet?
A road beside The Light of the World Holy Ghost Church of God, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: anywhere your car has come to rest around Northfleet, we travel to it. The work depends on three answers, and our technicians ask for before all else — which fluid got in, the quantity, and whether your engine has run.
Then the tank is emptied where the vehicle waits, and so the contaminated fuel and the AdBlue come out together. Residue from AdBlue won't wash out by itself, and so the whole system gets a careful flush, which counts much more with urea than with petrol. Testing the vehicle comes at the end, after clean diesel goes in and the fuel filter gets flushed or, if necessary, swapped. The majority of these jobs are a half-hour job once we turn up, if the engine has not run. Explosion-proof pumps make a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they're quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours at night.
Finally, your system is bled with fresh diesel. Whether it's a parking space outside Gravesend or a drive around Northfleet, that is where our technicians fire it up and you drive off. Before we leave, we confirm it's running properly with clean diesel in. As the job is done in full where your car is, a garage never comes into it. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report after that, which is what insurers want.
About Northfleet and where it is
Northfleet is a town in north-west Kent, situated on the Thames estuary at an elevation of around 15 metres. Northfleet lies approximately 20.9 miles from London and is near several smaller communities, including Perry Street and Rosherville. Northfleet has a mix of housing types, but terraced housing is predominant in the area. Northfleet is also close to Wombwell Park and the town of Gravesend,
AdBlue drains around Northfleet and across Kent
Perry Street, Rosherville and Wombwell Park are among the places around Northfleet that the same teams serve, along with most of Kent beyond, over the DA postcode area. If you're near a border, or somewhere hard to describe, ring and ask rather than assuming.
Northfleet is a coastal town, and an on-site drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, our engineers drain it where it is, and so it never needs to be shifted to us.
AdBlue in a diesel tank in Northfleet: the cost of fixing it
Since each 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 quantity of AdBlue that was put in. After that it turns on where the car is and whether a van can reach it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind St Mark's, Rosherville.
Which fluid got in, how much, and if the engine ran: every Northfleet enquiry opens with exactly that, ahead of a quote, not after. When they are known, a range turns into one firm number.
Quoted on the call before the van sets out, it is settled that day — card or phone, nothing in advance. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
In Northfleet and still beside the vehicle?
Leaving the vehicle alone is, then, the most useful thing you can do. Motor off, keys out, ignition off. Tell us it's AdBlue, about what quantity, and if it ran, on 0333 366 0103. After that Petrol in Diesel handles it, across Northfleet or anywhere within Kent.