Peartree Green: AdBlue in the Diesel Tank? Leave It Off
Motor off, ignition off: that is where you begin if AdBlue has got into your diesel tank. Chemically, AdBlue is just urea in water. Being water-based, it won't ignite and won't blend with diesel; trouble only comes when the pump starts pulling it. In Peartree Green, AdBlue in a diesel tank found before the engine runs normally comes down to a drain and a thorough flush, right where your car is. Nothing comes before calling 0333 366 0103.
Those opening minutes: AdBlue in the diesel tank around Peartree Green
Things to do:
- Pocket your keys, and that stops someone turning the electrics on.
- Hazards on, if moving traffic is anywhere near.
- Which fluid, and about what amount? Hang on to the bottle or the receipt, and we will see.
- Tell us a postcode starting SO19 7, or whichever street is nearest, and the van finds you directly — so ring from wherever you stand.
Not to do:
- Not even for a second, and not to shift the car: the engine remains off.
- Turning the key to ignition alone starts the pump going on many diesels. Avoid it.
- Pouring in extra diesel does not help: AdBlue separates out rather than thinning.
- Any driving at all is to be avoided, even a short distance along Sea Road.
- No emptying it yourself, either, at the verge.
Ask the people behind the counter to help you move your car off the island if you're on a forecourt in Peartree Green, whether it's the Esso or somewhere else. At your own driveway, do not move it at all.
What AdBlue does in a diesel tank
AdBlue is made for your exhaust, not the motor. Stored in a dedicated tank, it's squirted into the exhaust to clean the fumes. No part in a fuel pump is designed for this liquid — and no part of it was intended to go that way.
It doesn't blend. Once it's tipped into the tank, AdBlue behaves nothing like diesel. Denser than diesel, it drops and collects below it — the same place the intake sucks from. Once the pump runs, the AdBlue is top of the list to be pulled through. Until then it sits beneath your diesel, and that is how a vehicle filled in Northam last night and never switched on remains the straightforward one, as long as no one touches your key.
Two kinds of damage follow from there. It eats at certain metals used in fuel components, working on whatever it touches until it's cleared from the system. And once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals that block filters and settle in narrow passages. Where the AdBlue has reached the pipework, waiting till morning in Peartree Green leaves it worse. Inside that tank alone, waiting does nothing. Then there is the water: it offers no protection to the parts that rely on it the most — the high-pressure pump and every injector.
Why AdBlue in a diesel is frequently more serious than petrol
Fill a diesel with petrol in error over at the BP, and the problem is diluted fuel. It mixes with your diesel, and whilst it is inside the tank it does no harm; the damage comes from running the motor on it.
With AdBlue in a diesel, the fluid itself is plainly the wrong one. Not burning, it cannot simply be run through. Crystals and corrosion stay after the next tankful, and AdBlue splits back from the diesel, and so watering it won't work. Hence the flush matters so much, and trying your engine "to see" costs more with AdBlue than nearly any other mistake — in Chapel or the heart of Peartree Green alike.
The good news is the same as with petrol. Wherever across Hampshire your car has stopped, an unstarted engine leaves the AdBlue still inside the reservoir: the easiest bit of any fuel system to empty.
Peartree Green: how AdBlue ends up in a diesel tank
No one means to do it. The AdBlue filler on plenty of motors rests right next to your diesel filler, at times under the same flap, and the two caps can look alike in poor light. Mostly it happens with a bottle bought on the way home and poured in on the driveway, not at the forecourt.
A few familiar ways account for most cases. Rushing, outside Ludlow Junior School, after a warning light flashed on during the school run, someone refills the vehicle. In the evening, a container goes in on a drive near Sholing Road. One more version: darkness, a pub car park by The Peartree Inn, and a driver opening that flap for the first time.
Rented vehicles, brand-new vehicles, company vehicles, or the second vehicle in a family with one of each: the least familiar cars get it most. Keep it off: that's the first response to an identical slip, anywhere around Peartree Green or the remainder of Hampshire you happen to be.
Started the engine with AdBlue in your diesel tank around Peartree Green?
Then your tank is no longer where the AdBlue is. Given any running time, it travels to the high-pressure pump and each injector, after passing via the filter and pipework.
Watch for lumpy running, smoke, lost power, warnings on your dash, or a stall — coming back from the green space at the edge of the village, say, or part way across Peartree Green. When you safely can, stop then turn everything off — without restarting to see. More of it is pulled through with each start.
If you were on the M27, under 3 miles from Peartree Green, come off at the next exit and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on.
How far it went matters. A few hundred yards across Peartree Green to the car park by Pear Tree Church is a very different job from a run towards Southampton, under 3 miles away, with the AdBlue reaching further into the system with each mile. Let us know roughly how far it had come.
There's more to clean out once your engine has been started, and our engineers do all of it where your car has ended up. Lasting damage is very rare when it is noticed early.
What clearing AdBlue from a diesel involves in Peartree Green
A street by Peartree Church Hall, a driveway, a lay-by or a forecourt: anywhere your vehicle has stopped in Peartree Green, our technicians travel to it. Three replies decide the job, so before anything else our engineers ask what went in, about the amount, and whether your motor has turned over.
The polluted diesel and the urea come out together when the tank is drained, right there. Residue from AdBlue won't wash away by itself, so the fuel system gets a full flush, which counts much more with urea than for petrol. Your filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; fresh diesel goes in; and the vehicle is tested. About half an hour once we arrive is usual for most jobs when your engine hasn't run. Explosion-proof pumps mean a busy forecourt safe to work on, and they run quiet enough not to disturb the street at night.
Bleeding the fuel system with new diesel comes at the end. Whether it's a parking bay at Woolston or a driveway in Peartree Green, that is where our technicians fire it up and you head off. It is tested on clean diesel to be sure it runs correctly before our technicians head off. No garage is required at any stage, with the entire job done then and there. At the end, you are given paperwork for your insurer: a VAT invoice plus a report from the engineer.
About Peartree Green
Peartree Green is a suburban area located on the coast in southern Hampshire, sitting at an elevation of 29 metres near the city of Southampton. Peartree Green is characterized by its predominantly terraced housing and is situated close to nearby places such as Itchen, Merry Oak, and Woolston. Peartree Green has a population of approximately 6596 residents and is part of the larger Southampton urban area. Peartree Green is also within commuting distance to London, being around 68 miles away.
AdBlue drains across Hampshire, Peartree Green included
Itchen, Merry Oak and Woolston are among the towns around Peartree Green that the same vans reach, along with most of Hampshire beyond, throughout the SO postcode area. Ring and ask rather than guess when you are close to a border, or somewhere tricky to pin down.
A van that comes to you suits Peartree Green, a residential suburb: you have no need to take your car to us, since our technicians empty it on the spot, in a driveway, a residential street, a car park or a forecourt.
Peartree Green: what AdBlue in a diesel tank costs to fix
Because the callouts vary, a flat figure would not be honest. Three things change the price: whether the motor has run and for how long, how much AdBlue went in, and where your car is. That last one turns on whether our van can reach it safely, and an open driveway is easier than a tight gap behind Peartree Green United Reformed Church.
What was put in, what quantity, and if the engine ran: each Peartree Green enquiry opens with exactly that, before any figure, not after. When they are known, a range becomes a single fixed number.
Before a van sets off, you hear the quote on the phone. Then you pay on the day, by card or by phone, with nothing in advance. Misfuelling cover is part of many insurance policies, so it is worth looking at yours before the van gets there.
Still alongside the vehicle around Peartree Green?
In that case, do nothing — that's the best move there is. Ignition off, engine off, keys out. Petrol in Diesel takes over the rest, in Peartree Green or wherever within Hampshire, once you call 0333 366 0103 to say it was AdBlue, about what quantity, and whether the engine ran.