AdBlue in the Diesel Tank in Paulsgrove? Keep It Switched Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has got into the diesel tank. Water with urea dissolved in it: that's AdBlue. The harm starts once it is sucked through the lines — it won't burn, and it will not blend with diesel. A drain and a thorough flush, done where your car is in Paulsgrove, is generally all AdBlue in a diesel tank needs — if it's caught before the engine has been run. First, phone us on 0333 366 0103.
What to do straight away, Paulsgrove: AdBlue in your diesel tank
To do:
- So no one can switch your ignition on, take your keys out.
- If you're anywhere near moving traffic, put the hazards on.
- The empty bottle or the till receipt tells us the fluid and the quantity, so don't throw it away.
- Give us a postcode starting PO6 4, or whichever street lies nearest, and our van reaches you directly — so call wherever you are.
Things not to do:
- Don't start the motor, even for a moment to move the vehicle.
- Plenty of diesels power their fuel pump the instant the ignition comes on, so keep the car off.
- Don't top up with diesel to dilute it. AdBlue does not dilute in diesel; it separates out.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short distance along Allaway Avenue.
- By the road, don't try emptying it on your own.
Ask the attendants to help you move the car away from the island if you're at a forecourt in Paulsgrove, whether it's the Tesco or somewhere else. Stopped on your own drive? Then it stays exactly where it is.
AdBlue in a diesel tank, and what it does there
The engine isn't what AdBlue is made for; your exhaust is. From a separate tank it is fed straight to your exhaust, cleaning what the motor emits. Nothing in it is meant to pass through a fuel pump, and nothing in a fuel pump is made to handle it.
Inside a diesel tank it behaves really differently from fuel. It does not mix in. Denser than diesel, it drops and pools below it — the very place the intake sucks from. The first thing the system pulls through, after it runs, is the AdBlue. So a motor that had AdBlue poured in on a drive in Highbury last night, and has not been started since, is still the simple case: the AdBlue is lying at the bottom of that tank, and nothing has sucked it in.
It does two kinds of damage from there. What remains when the water evaporates is urea, which forms crystals: they lodge in tiny channels and clog filters. On top of that, it eats at some metals in the fuel system, and keeps going till it's flushed out. Where the AdBlue is in the lines, waiting overnight in Paulsgrove makes things worse. In that tank alone, waiting does nothing. The water in it causes harm of its own: the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors rely on diesel to lubricate them, and water gives them nothing.
AdBlue in a diesel: why it is commonly worse than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol by mistake over at the Esso, and the issue is thinned fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is in that tank it causes no harm; the harm comes from running your engine on it.
AdBlue in a diesel is another problem: not thin fuel, but no fuel at all. Not burning, it cannot just be run through. Nor can it be thinned, because it splits back out — and the following fill will not clear away crystals or corrosion. So the flush matters for more with AdBlue, and trying your engine "to see", in the centre of Paulsgrove or out in Cosham, does more harm than nearly any other error.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Not run? Then the AdBlue sits only in that tank, the easiest section of the entire system to empty, anywhere your vehicle has stopped across Hampshire.
Paulsgrove: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
It is not on purpose. Many cars keep the AdBlue inlet alongside the diesel inlet, now and then under one flap, and muddling them up is simple after dark. Mostly it occurs with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the pump.
Usually, it occurs in one of a few familiar ways. Halfway through the morning drop-off, the dashboard flags it up, and outside St Paul's Catholic Primary School the top-up is rushed. A driver tips the container in outside their house, right off Woofferton Road, as the day ends. One more pattern: darkness, the car park outside Cross Keys, and someone opening that flap for the first time.
Rented cars, new cars, fleet cars, or the spare vehicle in a family with one of each: the least familiar vehicles see it the most. Wherever in Hampshire, Paulsgrove as well, the mistake does not change, and neither does the first response: keep it switched off.
Paulsgrove: started your engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank?
In that case, the AdBlue is no longer inside that tank. It has been drawn through the filter and the fuel lines, and if the motor ran for any time, it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors.
Expect rough running, smoke, lost power, lights on the dash, or a cut-out — coming back from Horsea Island Country Park, perhaps, or part way across Paulsgrove. Stop when it is safe. Switch off. Keep the car off rather than testing it again. Every start pulls more of it through.
Exit the M27, under a mile from Paulsgrove, at the next junction and stop safely, not driving on.
Each mile carries the AdBlue further in. That is why a hop across Paulsgrove to park near St Paul's and a drive of under 5 miles towards Portsmouth are such separate jobs. About how far it had come is worth telling us.
We do all of the cleaning where the car has stopped, and once the motor has been started there is more of it. Long-term damage is very uncommon when it is noticed early.
What emptying AdBlue from a diesel involves around Paulsgrove
A street by Paulsgrove Baptist Church, a driveway, a lay-by or a filling station: wherever your car has come to rest in Paulsgrove, our engineers travel to it. Before anything else our technicians ask what went in, roughly how much, and whether the motor has been run, since those replies determine the work.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out as one when the tank is drained, right there. Residue from AdBlue will not flush away by itself, so the whole system gets a full flush, which counts far more here than for petrol. Fresh diesel goes in once your filter is flushed — or replaced, when it needs to be — and then the vehicle is tested. Engine not run? In that case expect about half an hour once we are there for most jobs. The pumping gear is explosion-proof, so a live filling station is no issue, and it's hushed enough for a residential street late at night.
The final step is to prime the fuel system on new diesel. Firing it up comes next, and then you head off from where the car is parked, outside Portchester or on a drive around Paulsgrove. The test before our engineers head off is that it runs correctly on new diesel. The whole job is done where the car is, so it never has to go to a workshop. You get a VAT invoice and an engineer report afterwards, which is what insurers ask for.
About Paulsgrove
Paulsgrove is a suburban area located on the southern coast of England, near the city of Portsmouth in Hampshire. Paulsgrove sits at an elevation of 19 metres, close to the shoreline and nearby places such as Port Solent and Portchester. Paulsgrove has a population of approximately 5632 people, predominantly living in terraced housing. Paulsgrove is situated about 3.7 miles from Portsmouth and 61.9 miles from London.
AdBlue drains across Hampshire, Paulsgrove included
Over the PO postcode area, the teams answering AdBlue jobs around Paulsgrove serve most of Hampshire as well, Port Solent, Portchester and Wymering included. Guessing doesn't help by a county line or anywhere tricky to pin down; ring and check.
No towing is needed. In Paulsgrove, a residential suburb, a van that comes to you fits: the vehicle is emptied on the spot, whether in a driveway, a residential street, a parking area or a forecourt.
What AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to put right in Paulsgrove
Because each jobs differ, a flat figure would not be honest. The cost shifts first with how long, if at all, the engine has been running, and next with the quantity of AdBlue that went in. After that it rests on where the vehicle is and whether a technician can get to it safely, which is easier on an open driveway than in a tight spot behind St Michael and All Angels.
That's why each call from Paulsgrove starts with the same three questions, asked before giving a figure, not after: what got in, how much, and if it has run. When they are known, a range becomes a single firm figure.
Quoted on the call before the engineer heads out, it is settled on the day — card or phone, nothing in advance. While the van is on the way, dig out your insurance: plenty include misfuelling.
Still next to the vehicle in Paulsgrove?
Then, touch nothing — that is the most helpful move available. Keys out; engine and ignition off. Petrol in Diesel handles the rest, across Paulsgrove or wherever in Hampshire, after you ring 0333 366 0103 to say it's AdBlue, roughly what quantity, and whether the engine ran.