AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Over Wallop? Don't Start It
With AdBlue in the diesel tank, the ignition stays off and so does the engine. AdBlue is urea dissolved in water. Unlike fuel, it neither burns nor blends, and no harm starts till the motor sucks it round. In Over Wallop, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the motor runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where your car is. Before anything, call us on 0333 366 0103.
AdBlue in the diesel tank in Over Wallop: the first few minutes
Do these:
- Pull the keys out, and so nobody switches the ignition on.
- If you are at all close to moving traffic, put the hazard lights on.
- Hold on to your receipt or the empty bottle, and so you can tell us what went in and roughly how much.
- Ring us from where you are. A postcode starting SO20 8, or the name of the closest street, gets the van to you without a search.
Never do these:
- No starting the engine — not for a second, not to shift the vehicle.
- Plenty of diesels run their pump the moment the ignition goes on, and so leave the car off.
- Don't top up with diesel to thin it. AdBlue doesn't dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Don't drive the vehicle anywhere, not even a short way along Station Road.
- Emptying your tank yourself beside the road is not one to try.
The attendants on duty at any Over Wallop filling station — the Pace included — will usually lend a hand rolling it aside if you ask. Parked on your own driveway? Then it stays just where it is.
What does AdBlue do in a diesel tank?
Meant for the exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the motor. From a dedicated tank it goes directly to the exhaust, cleaning what your engine lets out. A fuel pump isn't designed to take it, and AdBlue was never intended to go through one.
Fuel mixes; AdBlue, after poured in, won't. The behaviour is not at all like fuel's. Denser than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the same spot the intake draws from. Easiest of all: one that had AdBlue in Kentsboro overnight and has not turned since. The AdBlue sits at the foot of the tank, untouched — but it would be first through once the engine starts, ahead of any diesel at all.
Two kinds of harm come from there. 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 working on the components it reaches for as long as it stays there. Lines holding AdBlue spell damage overnight for a vehicle sitting in Over Wallop. Only in the tank, it stays stable. Water lubricates nothing. The high-pressure pump and each injector need diesel running through them, and so the water content damages them by itself.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it's commonly worse than petrol
Petrol put into a diesel on another forecourt nearby's forecourt makes the fuel thin — that is the main problem. No damage is done while it stays put, blended into the diesel — only when the engine runs on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is a different matter: not thin fuel, yet no fuel at all. Not burning, it can't just be run through. Deposits and corrosion remain through the following fill, and AdBlue splits again from the diesel, and so thinning it can't work. Hence the flush matters more, and trying the engine "to see" does more harm with AdBlue than almost any other slip — in Palestine or the centre of Over Wallop alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Emptying a tank is the easiest job on a fuel system, and with no start-up, the AdBlue remains in there — wherever across Hampshire your vehicle has stopped.
Over Wallop: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not on purpose. Plenty of vehicles keep the AdBlue cap alongside the diesel inlet, now and then under one flap, and mixing them up is easy in poor light. A bottle picked up when driving home and poured in outside the house, instead of at the forecourt, is the usual route.
It tends to take place in a couple of familiar ways. A warning light comes on during the school run, and the top-up takes place in a hurry outside Wallop Primary School. A bottle is poured in at the end of the day on a drive just off King Lane. Or your car is topped up in the car park outside White Hart, in poor light, by a person who has never opened that flap before.
The least known cars see it most — hire cars, new cars, fleet ones, and the other vehicle of a home with both fuel types. Same slip, same first step — leave it switched off — wherever you are in Over Wallop or the rest of Hampshire.
Over Wallop: started the engine with AdBlue in the diesel tank?
Then the AdBlue has left the tank. Your filter and lines have had it pulled along, and some running time takes it on to the high-pressure pump and every injector.
You may notice the motor running unevenly, smoking, losing power, showing warning lights or cutting out, perhaps on the way back from Alan Evans Memorial Ground or halfway across Over Wallop. Once safe, stop and switch everything off — without restarting to see. Each start pulls more of it through.
If you were on the M3, under 15 miles from Over Wallop, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on.
Each mile pushes the AdBlue further in. That's why crossing Over Wallop to park beside Saint Peter's Church and a drive of under 15 miles towards Salisbury are such distinct jobs. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
Once the motor has been run, the flush takes in more, and all of it is done where the car has stopped. If it's spotted soon, long-term damage is very rare.
Over Wallop: how AdBlue is drained from a diesel
The car stays where it is, whether that's a road near Wallops Parish Hall, a driveway, a layby or a forecourt around Over Wallop, and the van comes to it. The job rests on three replies, which our engineers get first — which fluid got in, the amount, and whether your motor has turned over.
On the spot, the tank is then emptied, and all of the polluted diesel and the urea leave at once. Your system is rinsed thoroughly, which matters more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Testing the car comes at the end, after clean diesel goes in and your filter is cleaned or, where needed, swapped. If your engine hasn't run, most jobs take about half an hour once our engineers arrive. Quiet enough for use outside a house at night, and safe on a busy forecourt, our pumps are explosion-proof.
The final step is to prime your system on new diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you drive off from where your car is parked, at Grateley or on a driveway in Over Wallop. Before leaving, we check it is running correctly with fresh diesel in. No workshop is needed at any point, with the entire job done on the spot. The insurer will want an engineer's report and your VAT invoice — each handed over afterwards.
About Over Wallop, briefly
Over Wallop is a village in Hampshire, situated on the banks of the River Test at an elevation of 69 metres. Over Wallop has a mix of old and new housing, with detached homes being the predominant type, and is located near several other small villages including Middle Wallop and Nether Wallop. Over Wallop is close to the city of Salisbury, which is about 10 miles away, and is also within commuting distance of London, approximately 68 miles to the east. Over Wallop remains a small, rural community with a population of around 741 people.
Over Wallop and Hampshire: AdBlue drains across the area
Middle Wallop, Lopcombe and Nether Wallop are among the places around Over Wallop that the same vans serve, together with most of Hampshire further out, over the SO postcode area. Close to a boundary, or somewhere tricky to pin down? Asking is better than assuming, and so phone.
Anywhere your car stands — your driveway at home, a side street, a parking area, a filling station — our technicians drain it on the spot, and there's no need to bring it to us; that suits Over Wallop, a village, well.
What does AdBlue in a diesel tank cost to sort out in Over Wallop?
Not one flat price would be honest, since each job is different. Whether the engine has been running, and for how long, comes first in what moves the price. How much AdBlue was put in comes next, and then the location of the car, because an open driveway is simpler for our van to reach safely than a tight gap behind Army Flying War Memorial.
Ahead of any figure, not afterwards, each enquiry from Over Wallop begins with the same three questions: the fuel, the amount, plus whether it ran. Given them, a range shrinks to a single fixed figure.
You get that quote on the phone, before anyone heads out, and you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing upfront. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it pays to look at yours before the van arrives.
Next to the car around Over Wallop, still?
Then, do nothing — that is the most helpful step there is. Ignition off, motor off, keys out. Tell us it was AdBlue, roughly how big an amount, and whether the engine ran, on 0333 366 0103. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, across Over Wallop or anywhere within Hampshire.