Don't Start It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Pagewood
With AdBlue in your diesel tank, the ignition remains off and so does your motor. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. It doesn't burn, it doesn't mix with diesel, and the damage it does starts when the system pulls it in. A drain and a thorough flush, done where the car is around Pagewood, is normally what AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before your engine has been run. Ring 0333 366 0103 before you do anything else.
Pagewood, AdBlue in your diesel tank: what to do at once
Do:
- So nobody can turn your ignition on, take the keys out.
- Close to moving traffic? Then put the hazard lights on.
- The empty bottle or your receipt tells us the fluid and the amount, so don't bin it out.
- Our van locates you quickest with a postcode starting RH6 0, or simply the name of a street close by, and so call from the car.
Things not to do:
- Moving the car just a few yards is no reason to start your motor.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant the ignition goes on, and so keep it off.
- No extra fuel on top. The AdBlue won't mix, so it is pointless.
- Even a short stretch down Glover's Road is too far to drive it.
- Do not try to drain it yourself at the roadside.
The attendants working at any Pagewood filling station — the Tesco among them — will usually lend a hand pushing it clear if you ask. If you're on your own drive, leave the vehicle precisely where it sits.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
Made for your exhaust, AdBlue has no business in the motor. Kept in a dedicated tank, it is squirted into the exhaust stream to clean the fumes. A fuel pump isn't made to cope with it, and AdBlue was never supposed to travel through one.
Poured in with your diesel, it stays separate rather than mixing — quite unlike fuel. It is heavier than diesel, and so it sinks and gathers at the bottom of that tank, which is where the pickup draws fuel from. The first thing the system pulls through, once it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Cudworth last night, and hasn't been started since, is still the straightforward case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of the tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
It causes two kinds of damage from there. It attacks certain metals found in fuel components, working on whatever it touches till it is removed from the system. And when the water goes, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in tiny passages. If the AdBlue has reached the pipework, waiting till morning around Pagewood leaves things worse. In your tank alone, waiting costs nothing. Water protects nothing. The injection pump and every injector need diesel flowing through them, so the water part harms them in its own right.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is regularly more significant than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the Esso, and this problem is diluted fuel. Harm just comes from driving on it. Blended into your diesel and left inside your tank, it does none.
The trouble with AdBlue in a diesel is a totally wrong liquid. Since it doesn't burn, running it through isn't an option. Nor can it be watered down, because it splits back out — and the following tankful will not clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush counts more here, and turning your key "to see", in the heart of Pagewood or out in Povey Cross, costs more than almost any other mistake.
The same good news holds as with petrol. If your engine hasn't run, the AdBlue is still in that tank, and your tank is the easiest part of a fuel system to clear, wherever across Surrey the car is sitting.
Pagewood: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
Nobody means to do it. The AdBlue filler on many cars rests right next to your diesel filler, sometimes under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Usually it is never the filling station: someone picks up a container driving home and pours it in at home.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. The refill is rushed outside Charlwood Village Primary School, after your dash flashed with a warning while the kids were taken off. In the evening, a bottle goes in on a driveway close to Rectory Lane. Or the vehicle is topped up in the car park at The Half Moon, in poor light, by someone who has never opened that flap before.
Rented vehicles, new cars, fleet cars, or the second vehicle in a family with both fuels: the least familiar cars get it most. Anywhere across Surrey, Pagewood included, the slip does not change, and neither does the first step: keep it switched off.
Already started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank in Pagewood?
Then the AdBlue has left your tank. Via the fuel filter, along the lines, and — with any running — into the injection pump and each injector: that's how far it has gone.
Maybe returning from Charlwood Recreation Ground, or part way across Pagewood, your engine may go rough, smoke, drop power, light up your dash or stall. No starting it again to test: pull over once it is safe, then switch everything off. Every start pulls more of that through.
Pagewood lies under 5 miles from the M23; if you were on it, exit by the first junction and pull up safely rather than carrying on.
How far it went counts. A few hundred yards across Pagewood to the car park by St Nicholas is a very different job from a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 25 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the fuel system with each mile. Roughly how far had it come? Tell us.
There's more to rinse out once the engine has run, and we do all of it where your car has come to a stop. Noticed soon, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Pagewood
Our technicians come to the car, wherever it has stopped around Pagewood: a side street close to Charlwood Village Hall, a drive, a lay-by or a forecourt. Before anything else our engineers ask what was put in, about how much, and if the motor has been run, because those answers settle the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together when your tank is emptied, on the spot. The fuel system is cleaned thoroughly, which counts more with AdBlue than with petrol, since what it leaves behind doesn't rinse out on its own. Next, the filter: flushed, or replaced if it must be. Then clean diesel, then a check of your car. Engine not run? In that case expect about half an hour on site for most jobs. The pumps are explosion-proof, safe on a working forecourt and quiet enough to use outside a house after dark.
Bleeding the fuel system with clean diesel comes last. At that point our engineers start it and you set off, whether from a parking space outside Ifield or a drive in Pagewood. Our technicians confirm it runs properly on clean diesel before we go. Our engineers do it all wherever the vehicle has ended up, and it never has to be taken to a workshop. At the end, there is paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Pagewood itself
Pagewood is a small suburban area in Surrey, situated near the riverside and surrounded by nearby places such as Charlwood, Russ Hill, and Norwood Hill. Pagewood sits at an elevation of 69 metres, within the South East region of England, and is located approximately 24.7 miles from London. Pagewood has a population of around 663 people and predominantly features detached housing. Pagewood is also close to the city of Brighton and Hove, which is about 23.2 miles away.
Pagewood and Surrey: AdBlue drains across the area
Over the RH postcode area, the teams taking AdBlue call-outs around Pagewood serve much of Surrey too, Charlwood, Russ Hill and Norwood Hill included. Guessing won't help by a county line or anywhere tricky to describe; phone and check.
Pagewood is a residential suburb, and a mobile drain suits it: whether the vehicle is on a home drive, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt, we drain it where it stands, so it never needs to be shifted to us.
Pagewood: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Not one single price could be honest, because each job is different. Three things change the price: whether the engine has run and for how long, how much AdBlue got in, and where the vehicle is. That last one turns on whether a technician can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight gap behind Lowfield Heath Windmill.
Ahead of a figure, never after, every enquiry from Pagewood opens with three questions: the liquid, the quantity, plus whether it ran. With those replies, a range shrinks to a single fixed number.
Before anyone sets off, you are told the price by phone. Then you pay on the day, by card or over the phone, with nothing in advance. While our engineer is on the way, check your policy: many include misfuelling.
In Pagewood and still alongside your car?
Then, do nothing — that is the best move there is. Keys out, engine off, ignition off. Phone 0333 366 0103: AdBlue, roughly how much, and whether the engine ran are all our engineers need. Petrol in Diesel takes over the remainder across Surrey, Pagewood too.